Colorado Passes Law to Help Young Medical Marijuana Patients

School Districts Must Now Establish Policies to Facilitate On-Campus Administration of Medical Marijuana

DENVER, CO In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Colorado Senate approved legislation mandating that school districts establish a policy to ensure that young medical marijuanapatients can take their medicine on school grounds.

As a show of respect, the Senate directed their yes votes to families and proponents in the gallery.

Last week the Senate Education Committee passed the legislation via a rare standing vote. The bill had previously passed in the House.

House Bill1373 requires school districts to establish policies that allow use of non-smokeable medical marijuana for young patients in Colorado public schools. The guidelines in the law do not require school employees to administer the marijuana-infused products but suggests parents or primary caregivers on campus administer the medicine.

The legislation, known as Jacks Law, concerns 15-year-old Jack Splitt. Jack suffers from spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy and dystonia. Jack and his mother Stacey Linn successfully fought last year to allow school districts to establish medical marijuana policy but after none did, more legislation was immediately required to get things moving.

School districts hesitated after last years law, titled Jacks Amendment, stoked unfounded fears regarding federal funding.

The current legislation ensures school districts can opt out of the policy if they can show an actual loss of federal funding, even though thats unlikely to occur.

We dont have time to wait for school districts to do the right thing, said ...