Tricky subject: Colorado schools setting policy for students’ medical marijuana use
Colorado school districts this year are wrestling with a new law that allows students with a valid prescription to get medical marijuana treatments on school property with or without help from a school nurse.
Jacks Law offers two alternatives for the states 179 school districts. They can write policies limiting where on campus the treatments can take place or what forms of cannabis can be administered. If the district doesnt create a policy, parents or a designated private caregiver would have no limitations on where they could administer the treatment.
Its an either/or for the school districts, saidRep. Jonathan Singer, a Longmont Democrat who was the bills sponsor. He wanted the give parents the right to administer cannabis medicine while also allowing school districts a way to police its use.
Ultimately, the school districts can figure it out, Singer said, or the state will figure it out for you.
So far, some school districts including Boulder Valley, Jefferson and Douglas County are working on policies or have produced them.
Denver Public Schools, meanwhile, has refused to write a policy, saying marijuana use is still a violation of federal law, even for medicinal purposes.
Singer understands the districts reluctance to make way for medical pot for students, especially since only about 350 kids younger than 18 are currently enrolled in Colorados medical marijuana program.
Marijuana is still a Class 1 controlled substance and there are some nervous folks out there that dont want to deal with that in the classroom, Singer said. And school districts have a lot on their shoulders now and my guess is that most will wait on dealing with a policy or student until its a pressing need or issue.
Still, the new law will help Jack Splitt, who like a lot of 15-year-olds lovesthe Broncos and is starting to notice girls.
Jack also has an active mind that is keen on math, even though its encased in a rigid, balled-up body wracked by pain that only medical marijuana can ease, says his mom, Stacey Linn.
I know its so frustrating for him, he loves to socialize and wants to learn, said Linn, who battled for two years to let Jack take his non-smokable cannabis treatments while at school. Jack, now at Wheat Ridge High School, has cerebral palsy accompanied by painful, debilitating muscle contractions.
Linn won her fight this summerwhen Gov. John Hickenlooper signedJacks Law on June 6. A designated caregiver usually a parent or private caregiver must administer the medication without creating a distraction and remove all excess medication.
The law stipulates that school district personnel are not required to administer the medication.It includes a provision thatmedical marijuana may not be administered on school buses or school-sponsored events that wind up on federal property or any other location that prohibits marijuana on its property.
Jacks Law allows a school district to opt out if it can reasonably demonstrate that it lost federal funding as a result of implementing the policy.
As far as Denver Public Schools is concerned, however, the federal ban on marijuana is a non-starter for making a DPS policy.
The substance is not federally approved and the Colorado State Board of Nursing ...
