Colorado’s Senate has approved a bill that would make it easier for children with complicated medical conditions to access medical cannabis at school, the Associated Press reports. The proposal moves next to the House.
Under current state law, school districts must permit parents and caregivers to possess and dispense cannabis-based medicine on school grounds; however, school principals have discretion whether to allow school personnel to possess and administer the medicine – the bill would remove that requirement, according to the bill text. Moreover, the legislation allows school personnel to volunteer to possess, administer, or assist in the administration of cannabis-based medicine while protecting those who do so from any retaliation.
“The bill imposes a duty on school principals to create a written treatment plan for the administration of cannabis-based medicine and on school boards to adopt policies regarding actual administration. The bill provides disciplinary protection to nurses who administer cannabis-based medicine to students at school. The bill requires schools to treat cannabis-based medicine recommendations like prescriptions.” – SB 21-056
The bill only provides for non-smokable forms of medicine and does not apply to private or non-public schools.
Republican state Sen. Chris Holbert, one of the bill sponsors, noted during a Senate hearing on Tuesday that some of the state’s public schools are on military installations.
“And if the federal government says this is not allowed, then those schools don’t have to do it,” he said during the hearing, according to Cannabis Wire. Holbert has called it “the most important bill” he will sponsor and described it as a “milestone effort.”
“This is a great bill for parents and students who have struggled in this state unnecessarily,” he said. “And this will help people. I think that this effort has helped people in a more significant way than anything else I’ve worked on in 10 years in the legislature.”
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