Saipan Correspondent
GUALO RAI, Saipan — How prevalent illegal drug use in the business community of the Northern Mariana Islands is uncertain.
In Guam only one testing company agreed to speak with the Journal (See story here). Companies in the NMI declined to speak with the paper, citing “privacy” reasons, though the Journal was obviously looking for numbers, not names.
Within the government of the Northern Marianas Joseph Pangelinan, director of the Office of Personnel Management said the NMI government has through the years dismissed civil servants due to illegal drug use — the “poisons” of choice being marijuana, methamphetamines, and amphetamines (prescription drugs) — with officers from the Department of Public Safety and Department of Corrections leading the firings.
“The most common organization in the government that is frequent is Public Safety, Corrections, [and] a little bit of Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services.
I don't know if it's the pressure of the job ... I don't have the data right now. But those are the common organizations in the government,” he told the Journal.
Pangelinan said crystal meth and marijuana are the illegal drugs usually found in the systems of those fired from those agencies.
“I don't know where they get it,” he said.
DPS took issue with his comments.
“Within the last 11 years our records reflect that two employees have been ‘terminated’ because of drug use. The statement that DPS leads in numbers of employees being terminated because of drug use is inaccurate. We can confirm though, that there have been police officers who have tested positive for drug use,” a statement from DPS read.
“Procedure-wise, those who face administrative actions or termination are referred to OPM, who have recommended that ‘as a first offense, an employee must be given the chance to rehabilitate,’ and that a second similar offense is grounds for dismissal from service.
“There have been cases where employees decide to resign in lieu of termination,” he said.
DPS said it’s not the only agency with employees who test positive for drug use, but understandably the attention may be higher since DPS is a law enforcement agency.
“Officers are held to a higher standard. DPS is required to conduct annual drug testing, with the availability of funding. The department offers counseling for those employees who may be struggling with addictions, provided that they come forward,” its statement said.
Commissioner Anthony Torres of the Department of Corrections said since he came on board, accountability has been a huge priority.
“It's no secret that I've removed a large number of officers for whatever I'm doing. And to the question of illegal drug use, I'm doing everything in my power to mitigate that and to hold people accountable.”
Torres said he has implemented random drug testing.
Torres said he’s not under any illusion that illegal drug use among DOC personnel has suddenly completely vanished.
“But I can say that I have good people who want to work here and who are doing good work. And if there are those individuals who continue to want to make wrong choices or bad choices, and they get caught or they continue to want to do wrongdoing, I will hold them accountable. I've done that from Day 1; I will continue to do that,” he said.
“I've been firm, fair, and consistent with my staff. I do demonstrate compassion in looking at every case. Every situation and every case is different.”
The DOC chief said he has assured his staff that DOC is a safe harbor for those who voluntarily admit that they’re struggling with substance abuse.
“I've told all of them, ‘if you have an issue or you have a problem, reach out to me.’”
That would need to happen before employees tested positive for drug usage, he said.
“But if you're struggling with something, reach out to me and I will set you up with the right resources to get you the help that you need, and then we can move forward from there.”
As of deadline, the Journal had not received a statement from the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services on illegal drug use among its ranks.
Most of the tests requested are for pre-employment into the government.
Pangelinan said OPM is charged to oversee one of the strictest policies in the U.S. government when it comes to illegal drug use among civil servants.
“With that [kind of] policy set, we do have several types of testing that employees have to go through to make sure that they're clean. The first one is called the pre-employment testing drug testing. And then you also have reasonable suspicion, and then you have the random testing.
In the case of an accident, there is also testing, he said.
He said if an employee admits to a drug problem “there’s follow-ups, which is when an employee is “given a chance. … And if you admit, then the government will do something to help you,” he said.
Pangelinan also said dismissal from government service due to illegal drug use isn’t necessarily an end to a career, as employees can apply again.
“If you continue doing your wrong ways, likely the enforcement officer will catch you and likely you're going to be convicted,” he said.
If you're clear. … compete again … and you can apply.” Since employment is competitive within the NMI government, Pangelinan said, Basically. you're starting from scratch.”
Public Law 23-27 essentially removes marijuana from all pre-employment drug testing for government employees, Pangelinan said he supports testing for every kind of illegal drug.
“ …because as you know, that marijuana is still an illegal drug in the federal government. When you say federal government, we are also talking about federal funds, and we have locally funded positions and federally funded positions. And even within those two areas of funding, under the local, you have safety and non-sensitive positions, same goes with the federal. You have the safety and non-sensitive positions,” he said.
As for marijuana use for health reasons, Pangelinan supports it, but not recreational use while working in government. For now, he said he will wait for the Civil Service Commission to come out with detailed rules on how to accommodate PL 23-27, including civil service jobs exempted from it.
Pangelinan said government workers should avoid trying illegal drugs or face the consequences. “To those that are taking drugs, think twice, because eventually, you'll be caught.”
DPS said in 2024 it arrested 39 people due to illegal drug use with 38 forwarded to the Office of Attorney General for prosecution.
The task force on illegal drugs started in August 2023. In that year DPS made 17 arrests due to illegal drugs, with 10 of them forwarded to the Office of the Attorney General. mbj