BERNALILLO COUNTY, NM – 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 penalized for using marijuana legally outside of business hours.

Commissioners will discuss the matter at their meeting on Tuesday. At this time, Bernalillo County employees go through pre-employment tests 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 will still be tested for drugs, but not for marijuana.

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

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

“People who work more in blue collar jobs are prone to back injuries and chronic pain as well. Instead of forcing people to use Oxycontin and opioids and things like that, I think this paves the way for our workforce to use other means that we know have proven affective and have been accepted for a long time.” Olivas said.

Olivas says he also believes the policy update will make the county more attractive to job seekers.

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

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