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Civil Service Commission: rule change did not raise post-offer marijuana positives; staff will keep monitoring
Summary
The Denver County Civil Service Commission reported that a one-year review of its Feb. 2025 marijuana-related hiring rule found no overall increase in post-offer positive drug screens; staff noted one post-offer positive for a firefighter in 2025 and said it will continue tracking data and refining application wording.
The Denver County Civil Service Commission heard a one-year post-implementation update on a marijuana-related hiring rule change during its Feb. 26 meeting.
Staff told commissioners that amendments adopted on Feb. 12, 2025 moved the disqualification look-back to begin from the application submission date rather than the earlier 12‑month pre-application window. Staff said the application question was rewritten after applicants frequently misinterpreted older wording, which had led to self-disqualifications and administrative reactivations.
The executive director reported that, across public-safety positions, the rule change did not increase the number of post-offer drug-screen positives. "Adopting the rule change did not increase the number of post-conditional-offer positive test results," the executive director said, and staff noted isolated positive results in 2023 and 2024 that had likewise led to offers being rescinded. For 2025, staff reported one post-conditional-offer positive for a fire candidate; that offer was rescinded.
Commissioners and staff flagged a rise in affirmative responses on the application among police applicants in 2024 compared with 2023 and said the difference may reflect application volumes or earlier wording confusion rather than rising on-the-job use. Staff described several cases where candidates were "reactivated" in the hiring workflow because they had answered the earlier question based on lifetime use rather than use at the time of application.
Staff also reported departmental post-incident testing for 2025: the fire department confirmed five post-accident tests, all negative. Chief Hegman, noted as participating on the call, said the number of post-incident tests for 2025 was "on par" with expectations.
Commissioners asked staff to continue monitoring applicant responses, to refine question wording to reduce reactivations, and to follow trends over multiple recruitment cycles. The commission did not adopt any new policy at the meeting; staff said they will bring additional data and analysis in future updates.
