Annapolis committee backs ordinance to remove cannabis from most city employee drug tests

Annapolis’ Housing and Human Welfare Committee voted Jan. 9, 2025, to give a favorable recommendation to Ordinance 03524, the “Fair Cannabis Employment Practices” ordinance, which would eliminate routine urine screening for cannabis for most city employees while preserving testing where federal or state rules require it.

The ordinance, sponsored by Alderman Jeffrey Savage, would remove cannabis from the city’s standard pre‑employment and post‑employment urine panels and move the city toward manager observation or non‑biologic cognitive/performance tests to assess on‑the‑job impairment. The committee advanced the measure to the full City Council after the administration offered a technical amendment clarifying the city’s ability to investigate and discipline employees who are impaired on the job.

The measure’s sponsor said the current urine test can detect cannabis metabolites for weeks or months after use, a period long after any impairment would have ended, and therefore can penalize lawful off‑duty behavior. "The test is unfair. It doesn't actually detect impairment," Alderman Savage said during the committee discussion.

Paul Armitano, an outside expert on cannabis policy who attended the meeting, told the committee the ordinance would align the city with other jurisdictions that have curtailed cannabis screening for public employees. "It simply prohibits the public employers from taking adverse action against workers solely because that person engaged in the legal use of cannabis during their non work hours," Armitano said, and he cited examples of other localities and states that have adopted similar approaches.

Representatives from the city’s human resources office recommended one technical change to the draft ordinance: keep the general definition of "impaired" focused on reduced cognitive or physical ability and move language that lists drugs, alcohol and cannabis out of that general definition and into the section that explains when the city may investigate, evaluate and discipline staff. "Just leave 'impaired' as reduced cognitive or physical ability and move the drugs, alcohol, cannabis... within section 3.24.050," one HR speaker said, explaining the amendment was intended to preserve a general definition of impairment while allowing targeted language about cannabis in the ordinance.

HR also told the committee the city's testing vendor can produce panels that simply omit THC testing for positions not subject to federal or state testing mandates; the vendor has been prepared to make that change. The administration said removing THC from a panel will not produce meaningful cost savings because much of the cost is labor and handling that remains for other analytes.

Committee members raised limits the city cannot change by ordinance. HR and an outside commenter noted that federal rules — enforced under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations — require testing for employees who hold or use a commercial driver's license in the course of their duties. The committee also heard that Maryland training and certification requirements govern police and certain public safety roles; those positions would remain subject to separate state or federal standards.

Armitano and other speakers discussed a prospective federal shift allowing saliva testing as an alternative to urine for DOT‑regulated employees, but they said no federally certified labs currently process saliva samples for that purpose. "There are still no federally sanctioned drug testing labs that will handle a saliva test," Armitano said, noting saliva testing generally has a shorter detection window than urine.

After discussion and the administration’s recommended technical amendment, the committee voted to send Ordinance 03524 with a favorable recommendation to the full City Council for consideration.

The sponsor and HR staff agreed to coordinate on any formal amendment language and legal review before the ordinance appears before the full council.