 Featured Image Credit: NSW Rural Fire Service A House committee in New Mexico advanced a bill this past Friday, February 17th, which opens the possibility for firefighters to be able to use state-legal medical cannabis while off-duty.
The measure, House Bill 292, is seeking to redefine the term “safety-sensitive position” in regards to a Compassionate Use Act which regulates New Mexico’s medical marijuana program. The bill proposes to define it as only being applicable to jobs where a person is required to carry a firearm at work, or drive a vehicle. So, if this bill passes, it would then make it possible for jobs such as firemen who are not driving the truck to be able to use medical marijuana when off duty. The bill was sponsored by Committee Chairwoman and Democratic Representative Liz Thomson, among others. Thomson emphasized to the rest of the committe that medical marijuana would be valuable to firefighters in particular, because they often deal with job related post-traumatic stress disorder. She said, "If you don't have [PTSD] by the first day, you will by the second, and I can truly see that, so we're just trying to give them another option to deal with the traumas that they see every day without it being alcohol.” Another person who spoke before the House committee emphasized that passing this bill would help more than just firefighters. Miguel Tittmann is the president of a local firefighter union branch (Local 244 of the International Association of Fire Fighters), and represents 900 firefighters in Albequerque and Bernalillo County. He told the committee that passing this bill, “…will affect a lot more employees in the state than just firefighters, but … it'll positively affect our population so much." Tittman also pointed out that other communities have already initiated similar measures with success, such as Vancouver, Pittsburgh and New York City. One of the measure’s critics, Republican Representative Harlan Vincent, said he was concerned that passing this measure would jeopardize public safety by possible impairment while on the job. Vincent said, "If somebody called 911 and they were having a heart attack, I want my people dialed in, razor-sharp, and to give that person in our community every possible chance that they have to survive.” Besides this cannabis measure, New Mexico’s legislatures are also currently considering a measure to allow for more clinical trials to study the effect of medical marijuana on military veterans with PTSD and pain management. That measure is called the Medicinal Cannabis Research Act. Comments are closed.
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