BERNALILLO COUNTY, N.M. – As times change, Bernalillo County Commissioner Eric Olivas says the county’s workplace drug policy needs to change.

Olivas is pushing to update the policy to treat cannabis more like alcohol, saying employees should not be punished for using marijuana legally while off the clock. 

Commissioners will discuss that issue at their meeting Tuesday. Right now, Bernalillo County employees go through pre-employment and in some cases random drug tests.

But Olivas is sponsoring a new resolution that would change the policy’s definition of illegal drugs to no longer include cannabis. That means employees would still get drug tested, but not for marijuana.

There are some exceptions though, including law enforcement officers who carry firearms and those required to hold a commercial driver’s license. 

Olivas says some county employees really benefit from using marijuana as medicine, especially people whose jobs include manual labor. 

“Folks that are more blue collar workers are prone to back injuries and chronic pain type of thing. Rather than having people use Oxycontin and opioids things like that, I think this opens up the avenue for our workforce to use other means that we know are proven affective and long accepted,” said Olivas. 

Olivas says he also thinks updating the policy will make the county more attractive to those looking for a job.

“I think it puts the county at a disadvantage as far as being an employer to not allow its employees to use that, and it has some narrow exceptions, but really this just puts us in line with what other employers are doing in the private sector,” said Olivas. 

Commissioners will vote on the resolution at their meeting Tuesday. If it passes, they’ll have to also vote on the new policy, and that will come later.