Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signed a bill requiring districts to develop a medical marijuana policy on school grounds.
The law will only allow students who posses a medical marijuana license for non-smokeable marijuana to medicate on school property. There are several non-smokeable methods for cannabis ingestion including edibles, pills, and tinctures.
The need for the school policy stems from the Splitt family. Student Jack Splitt suffers from Cerebral Palsy and uses medical marijuana to combat some of the symptoms.
“He normally has a talker on his chair that he uses to communicate. The marijuana makes it so that he can hold his head still in order to operate that device and the marijuana also makes it so that he’s not so sedated so that he can’t learn,” said Jack’s mother Stacy Linn.
A bill was signed last year that permitted medical marijuana to be used by children in need on campuses. However, no districts modified their drug policy to address the new law.
Another student may have also highlighted the need for districts to adopt the new policy. Jaxson Stormes was suspended last year when he accidentally brought marijuana pills into school with his lunch. Jacson uses medical marijuana to suppress his intense seizures caused by Dravet Syndrome.
“He has an IQ of 31. Why are you suspending a kid who didn’t make the lunch and didn’t send it to school?” said Jennie Stormes, Jax’s mother.
Governor Hickenlooper’s new law requires every district to either adopt the new policy or opt-out based on the loss of federal funding. A district would have to provide proof that they lost federal funds for allowing children to medicate with marijuana on school property in order to opt-out.
The law requires that a primary caregiver must deliver, administer, and then remove the marijuana from school property.
