The parents of a girl who attends elementary school in Schaumburg, IL, have filed a lawsuit against both the state and the school district, arguing that it is essential that their daughter be able to medicate with marijuana on school grounds. The girl, only identified in the lawsuit as “A.S.,” is on a regimen of chemotherapy to treat her Leukemia. As a result of the treatments, she suffers from seizures.
Traditional treatments have failed to curtail the seizures, but last year doctors prescribed A.S. as cannabis patch.
“The parents have told me that the difference between their daughter and now is like night and day,” the family’s attorney Steven Glink told USA TODAY describing the girl’s condition before and after she started medicating with marijuana.
Andrew DuRoss, the Schaumburg School District superintendent, said the district has sought clarification from the Illinois State Board of Education on the state’s medical marijuana law. The district even requested that school officials be allowed to administer the marijuana treatments but state officials reiterated that medical marijuana is not permitted on school grounds.
“We do also share the same concerns and care about (A.S.) and her family in this situation,” he said. “But we cannot legally grant the request that was made due to the rules of the Illinois medical cannabis act.”
