People applying to be first responders in Austin, Texas will no longer need to disclose their prior marijuana use following a push by advocates to get the policy change enacted.<\/p>\n
Austin-Travis County EMS (ATCEMS) revised the employment policy late last month after members of Texas NORML and the local EMS union called attention to the issue and sent nearly 3,000 letters to City Council members advocating for a change.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat question [about cannabis use within the past three years] and the associated disqualifier has been removed from both the application for employment and our EMSRecruiting.org website,\u201d an ATCEMS spokesperson told Marijuana Moment on Monday.<\/p>\n
The local EMS union said that the reform was all the more appropriate given that the legislature passed a bill earlier this year that expanded the state\u2019s limited medical cannabis program<\/a> to include post-traumatic stress disorder in the list of qualifying conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cDue to COVID-19 and the nature of EMS work, many of our first responders have PTSD,\u201d Austin EMS Association President Selena Xie said<\/a> in a press release.<\/p>\n Jax Finkel, executive director of Texas NORML, told Marijuana Moment that the organization \u201cwas proud to team up with Austin first responders to push back on hiring practices that discriminate against legal cannabis consumption.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe NORML community in Austin raised their voices and got this done so we can focus on public safety,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Heather Fazio, director of Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy, told Marijuana Moment that \u201cboth public and private sector employers are beginning to recognize that adults who use cannabis responsibly should not be disqualified for jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time coming, but change is happening at all levels thanks to advocacy groups like Texas NORML,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, activists throughout the state are working to enact broader marijuana reform locally and at the state level.<\/p>\n Advocates in San Marcos, Texas recently launched a campaign to put marijuana decriminalization on the local ballot<\/a> in 2022, for example.<\/p>\n A separate campaign attempted to put cannabis decriminalization on Austin\u2019s ballot this November<\/a>, but activists have since shifted their strategy toward putting the measure in front of voters on the May 2022 ballot.<\/p>\n The Austin Police Department updated its own marijuana policy last year<\/a>, announcing in a memo that officers will \u201cno longer cite or arrest individuals with sufficient identification for Class A or Class B misdemeanor \u2018possession of marijuana\u2019 offenses.\u201d<\/p>\n A strong majority of Texans back even broader reform, according to recent polling. Sixty percent of voters in the state\u00a0support making cannabis legal \u201cfor any use,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0signaling that local initiatives for more modest proposals like decriminalization will likely prevail where they qualify for local ballots.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s legislative session in Texas saw numerous drug policy proposals advance, including a since-enacted bill to\u00a0require a study into\u00a0the therapeutic potential of certain psychedelics<\/a> for military veterans.<\/p>\n Advocates remain disappointed, however, that lawmakers were\u00a0unable to pass more expansive cannabis bills<\/a>\u2014including a decriminalization proposal that cleared the House but saw no action in the Senate.<\/p>\n The\u00a0House approved a cannabis decriminalization bill<\/a>\u00a0in 2019,\u00a0but it did not advance<\/a>\u00a0in the Senate that session.<\/p>\n GOP Congresswoman\u2019s Marijuana Legalization Bill Draws Fire From Home-State Republican Party<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post First Responders No Longer Disqualified For Past Marijuana Use In Austin<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
People applying to be first responders in Austin, Texas will no longer need to disclose their prior marijuana use following a push by advocates to get the policy change enacted. Austin-Travis County EMS (ATCEMS) revised the employment policy late last month after members of Texas NORML and the local EMSContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51176,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51175\/revisions\/51176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\nRead More: First Responders No Longer Disqualified For Past Marijuana Use In Austin<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"