Alderpersons on the Annapolis City Council unanimously approved Ordinance 35-24, amending the city’s employment policy to eliminate marijuana drug testing for most public employees.
(Photo credit: Emily Koonce)
The ordinance specifies, “The city shall not conduct cannabis testing during pre-employment screening or after hiring an employee.” The city of Annapolis, Maryland’s state capital, employs over 600 workers.
Paul Armentano, Deputy Director of NORML, testified in favor of the policy during committee hearings. He argued that marijuana urinalysis testing “discriminates against people who are compliant with the state’s marijuana legalization laws, unnecessarily limits the pool of applicants seeking public employment, and punishes those who rely on the use of cannabis as a medicine.”
Armentano commended the council, stating, “Marijuana urinalysis testing is a holdover from the zeitgeist of the 1980s ‘war on drugs.’ But times have changed; public attitudes have changed, and in many jurisdictions, like Maryland, the marijuana laws have changed. It is time for workplace policies to adapt to this new reality and to cease punishing employees for activities they engage in during their off-hours that pose no workplace safety threat.”
Alderman Robert Savidge, the lead sponsor of the measure, praised the council’s unanimous support. “I’m glad that the entire City Council came together to pass this measure unanimously. We have corrected an injustice where our employees were being unjustly punished and potentially having their careers destroyed for responsibly utilizing a legal substance on their own time. This [ordinance] is a common sense solution, as illustrated by the Council’s unanimous support.” Savidge also expressed plans to pursue a similar policy for Anne Arundel County, which encompasses Annapolis and has a population of roughly 600,000.
Baltimore and Frederick County, Maryland (population: 287,000) already prohibit pre-employment marijuana screening for most public employees. The Annapolis ordinance goes a step further by also ending marijuana testing for employees already hired.
Maryland legalized medical marijuana in 2014, and adult-use marijuana became legal in 2023. Similar measures limiting marijuana testing in the workplace have been enacted in states like California, Connecticut, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island.
