County commissioners vote to clear up hazy cannabis use policy

Bernalillo County leaders could soon make some employees’ pipe dreams of off-the-clock cannabis use a reality.

County commissioners on Tuesday moved forward on proposed changes to the county’s drug and alcohol policy to no longer list cannabis as an illegal drug. The proposed changes would also stop most random and pre-employment testing for the substance.

Commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the resolution — Commissioner Steven Michael Quezada was absent — and likely will vote on the changes to the policy in December.

Commissioner Eric Olivas sponsored the proposed policy changes and said they would be consistent with New Mexico law, which legalized recreational cannabis in 2022.

“The first words of this revision are ‘drug- and alcohol-free workplace.’ That remains ironclad,” Olivas said. “This proposal does not change that currently, today, under the current policy framework, no one should be coming into work under the influence of any substance.”

Olivas told the Journal on Wednesday he wants to clear up gray areas of the county’s cannabis policy.

“I would say the position of human resources is a little squishy, which makes me uncomfortable because I think that it’s almost department by department, position by position right now, where some positions, like firefighters, for example, don’t feel that the policy says that they can use,” Olivas said.

Bernalillo County Senior Manager for Labor & Employee Relations Don Hill told the Journal in a statement Tuesday that the county’s policy doesn’t outright bar employees from using cannabis.

“Rather, abuse of controlled substances or misuse of alcohol or cannabis which renders an individual unprepared to safely perform their duties is grounds for discipline up to dismissal,” Hill said.

However, the proposed changes won’t apply to all employees.

County employees required to carry a firearm or hold a commercial driver’s license can be tested for cannabis randomly and before beginning employment. Those who work for the county with federally funded jobs would not be able to use it because cannabis has not been legalized federally.

Before the vote on the resolution, representatives of the firefighter union Local 244 County Chapter Vice President Theodore Ygbuhay and President Miguel Tittmann spoke, urging the commissioner’s support.

“This wasn’t an easy thing to do, and we’ve been trying to pass legislation that addresses this for the past two sessions. And even in a state like New Mexico, it’s a difficult thing to do,” Tittmann said. “This is about workers’ rights to use a medicine on their days off.”

Both thanked Olivas for his support.

“The bottom line is we are trusting these folks with very important lifesaving, life-changing decisions in our community,” Olivas said. “They’re taking risks that are tremendous compared to most of us who know nothing about what those risks are like and they’re seeing things in their day-to-day lives that most of us will never see.”

Olivas, a Democrat, also said he believed the resolution should receive bipartisan support.

“What we have seen in cannabis as it’s been legalized throughout the nation with conservative states and liberal states, it doesn’t have that divide,” Olivas said. “I think this is just about freedom, basic recognition of folks that work for us, being able to make decisions in their own homes, in their own lives, about what’s best for them.”

The county’s lone Republican Commissioner, Walt Benson, voiced his support for changing the policy.

Benson said he also believes cannabis for some people can be a healthy substitute for alcohol.

“I’ve known many first responders who have struggled with alcohol use as they self-medicate to deal with PTSD, trauma and pain,” he said.