2026 Community Catalyst Award Nominee: Fire Fighters for Plant Medicine

Firefighters for Plant Medicine was founded by Bernalillo County firefighter Paul Walton after his own experience with medical cannabis became part of his recovery and changed the way he thought about first responder wellness. The organization focuses on a problem that is especially difficult in fire service culture: how to support firefighters who may benefit from medical cannabis while maintaining clear expectations around readiness, impairment, and public safety.

That work has already produced a concrete policy change. Firefighters for Plant Medicine helped advance a Bernalillo County policy that allows firefighters to use cannabis while off duty without automatically jeopardizing their employment, provided they are not impaired while working. The distinction matters. A policy that separates off-duty medical cannabis use from on-duty impairment gives departments a way to address safety without treating any cannabis use as incompatible with being a firefighter.

For first responders, that can affect much more than employment policy. Firefighters routinely work in physically demanding, high-stress environments and may live with injuries, chronic pain, sleep disruption, or other conditions connected to the job. Fear of disciplinary consequences can make conversations about treatment choices more difficult, particularly when workplace rules have not kept pace with medical cannabis laws. Firefighters for Plant Medicine brings those issues into the open through education, peer support, and direct engagement with departments.

The organization is now working with additional fire departments on similar access policies, using the Bernalillo County experience as a model for how departments can distinguish responsible off-duty use from actual workplace impairment. That effort gives firefighters, department leaders, families, and local decision-makers a practical framework for discussing an issue that is often reduced to drug testing or zero-tolerance rules.

What makes Firefighters for Plant Medicine distinctive is that its advocacy grows directly out of first responder culture. It is not asking departments to ignore the safety responsibilities that come with emergency service. It is asking them to write policies that address those responsibilities more precisely, while allowing firefighters to make lawful medical decisions away from the job.

Firefighters for Plant Medicine reflects the purpose of the Community Catalyst Award by turning one firefighter’s experience into a broader effort to change how first responder communities approach medical cannabis, wellness, and workplace policy. Its work shows how practical policy reform can protect both the people who serve and the communities that depend on them.

Website: Firefighters for Plant Medicine