The tentative labor contract between the City of San Antonio and the firefighters union that negotiators made Friday night does not address a drug testing rule that many firefighters had hoped to change.

During a lengthy negotiation session Friday, the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association withdrew its proposal to take marijuana metabolites, also known as tetrahydrocannabinolic acid or THCA, off the list of drugs that the department randomly tests all firefighters and paramedics for throughout the year.

City negotiators stood firmly against that proposal and the union acquiesced. However, they signed a tentative agreement for the contract section regarding drugs and alcohol that says firefighters who test positive would not be disciplined if they can show it doesn’t impact anyone’s safety and that their use of marijuana is allowed under Texas’ compassionate use exception.

“It’s a baby step,” union President Joe Jones said. “It’s an incremental improvement in the right direction — at least we’re trying to make progress.”

The initial proposal to kick marijuana off the list entirely was not so firefighters and paramedics could “get high,” he said.

Many firefighters want to be able to use cannabidiol (CBD) products, which are legal in Texas, to treat chronic pain, inflammation and other conditions that come with the job.

It’s a job that takes a toll on firefighters, who are essentially “tactical athletes,” Jones said.

The problem is that some of these hemp-derived consumables and topicals are contaminated with illegal substances including THCA and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). These ingredients get you high — and can make you fail a urine test.

“The degradation of the human body in the fire profession is substantial. … Find a firefighter or a paramedic that doesn’t have back problems, and you just found a unicorn,” Jones said. “We have members who are suffering, and they won’t — like me — use the CBD oil because they don’t want to [test positive].”

Positive THC tests are “not frequent,” he said, but at least one firefighter — who holds a compassionate use prescription — tested positive for THC earlier this year.

CBD’s biggest proven benefits are for children with epilepsy syndromes, according to Harvard Health Publishing. Meanwhile, “animal studies, and self-reports or research in humans, suggest CBD may also help with” other ailments including chronic pain, anxiety, insomnia and addiction.

The punishment for a firefighter or paramedic who tests positive on a random drug test is unpaid suspension for up to 30 days and some form of rehabilitation. A second positive test could include termination.

While more than half of Americans live in a state where they can use marijuana recreationally, Texas is not one of them.

“Marijuana is still a prohibited substance,” said First Assistant City Attorney Liz Provencio, a member of the city’s contract bargaining team. The city wants to “maintain the ability to test for those illegal substances, irrespective of how they’re obtained initially.”

Compassionate use in Texas

Several fire departments across the country have removed the drug from testing or disciplinary processes — largely in states that have legalized medical or recreational use — but also including the Austin Fire Department.

Last year, Austin approved a contract that halts random and post-accident drug testing and prohibits discipline for prescribed cannabis use, according to the Austin Monitor. In San Antonio, the fire union proposed keeping marijuana in post-accident and reasonable suspicion testing but it wanted marijuana out of random testing.

It’s still illegal to use or possess marijuana in the state, but there are limited exceptions for compassionate use of “low-THC” cannabis for acute diagnoses including seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis, autism, cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder and incurable neurodegenerative diseases.

To allow for compassionate use, the city proposed reviewing positive tests for THC on a case-by-case basis to determine whether the individual has a valid compassionate use prescription for THC and whether the use is in line with their safety-sensitive duties, Provencio said.

Some firefighters may qualify for compassionate use, but that doesn’t help most firefighters who don’t have severe enough illnesses to get prescriptions, Jones said.

And many of the union’s members are wary about city administrators’ judgment calls — a distrust that stems from more than a decade of back-and-forth litigation and disputes related to previous fire union and city administrations, he added.

“There’s still this institutional distrust that we’re trying to overcome,” Jones said.

What the two sides have always agreed on, Provencio said, is that “safety is paramount” for firefighters, paramedics and the public.

“In our opinion, continuing the random testing [for marijuana] is going to best accomplish that,” she said.

Changing the rules wouldn’t have led to “pothead firefighters,” Jones said. “We’re not interested in that, because that’s our life on the line. … We’re on the hose line right next to these people. So that’s not what it’s about. It’s about our ability to function effectively in our jobs for longer periods of time.”

While this issue is important, the top priority for most firefighters was wage increases, Jones said.

Ultimately, marijuana didn’t make the cut.

The tentative deal, pending union ratification and City Council approval in September, would give firefighters and paramedics across the board 20% in raises — a 7% raise in fiscal year 2025, followed by another 8% in 2026 and 5% in 2027.