The Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday will consider a proposal that would reform the municipality’s drug testing policy and change marijuana testing for most city employees.
The measure aims to shift the city’s management of drug and alcohol issues in its workforce from a punitive policy to a progressive discipline approach that prioritizes education and treatment, said Assembly Chair Christopher Constant, who proposed the ordinance. For marijuana, the reform would increase the focus on workplace impairment over private use, he said.
The measure’s intent is to align the municipality’s rules with the state’s 2014 legalization of marijuana, and the longstanding right to privacy under the Alaska Constitution, Constant said. If the ordinance is approved, the city would treat marijuana consumption in a manner similar to alcohol — most employees could use marijuana off the clock.
Constant said right now, the city is dictating policies for how its workers live their private lives.
“This is, in one way, just another step in that conversation to get the government out of the lives of people, as far as we can recede,” Constant said.
Also, reorienting city code and policies around drug testing to a more supportive approach “in the climate when it’s hard to recruit and retain employees makes perfect sense,” Constant said. The city is struggling to fill vacancies in many departments, competing…