This State Could Allow School Nurses To Administer Medical Marijuana

If new legislation in Colorado passes, this state could allow school nurses to administer medical marijuana to students with qualifying health conditions. The new bill was introduced recently to Colorado’s House of Representatives.

Expanding Medical Marijuana Rights for Students

Lawmakers in Colorado are currently considering a new bill that would make it easier for students to receive medical marijuana while at school.

Colorado House Bill 18-1286 was recently introduced to the House of Representatives. The bill is designed to expand the state’s current laws governing student access to medical marijuana.

“Under current law, a primary caregiver may possess and administer medical marijuana in a non-smokable form to a student while the student is at school,” lawmakers wrote in a summary of the bill. “The [new] bill allows a school nurse or the school nurse’s designee, who may or may not be an employee of the school, to also possess and administer medical marijuana to a student at school.”

The summary added: “The bill provides a school nurse or the school nurse’s designee protection from criminal prosecution if he or she possesses and administers medical marijuana to a student at school.”

More specifically, there are a handful of other key changes the new bill would make. Here’s how things will work of the bill passes:

• Students in kindergarten through 12th grade will be allowed to receive medical marijuana from a school nurse or a nurse’s designated representative.
• Students would need a medical marijuana card.
• A student’s primary caregiver, school nurse, or representatives of the school nurse could hold medical marijuana on school grounds.
• Students would be allowed to access medical marijuana on school grounds, buses, and at school-sponsored events.
• After a student takes their medical marijuana, all remaining product would be removed from school property.

Final Hit: This State Could Allow School Nurses To Administer Medical Marijuana

Colorado’s new bill is sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers. This includes Democrats Dylan Roberts and Irene Aguilar along with Republican Vicki Marble.

Colorado first made it legal for students to use medical marijuana at school back in 2016. Now, lawmakers are looking to expand that law to make medical marijuana more accessible to students in the state.

The idea of letting students access medical marijuana while at school has been receiving more attention in recent years. In 2015, a school in New Jersey became the first in the country to allow students to use non-smokable medical marijuana.

Shortly after that, other states began following suit. For example, in 2016 Delaware passed a law that allowed students with qualifying health conditions to use medical marijuana at school. That was the same year that Colorado passed its first laws about students and medical cannabis.

In each of these cases, the form of cannabis was a key concern. In particular, states with these types of laws tend to allow only non-smokable medical cannabis.

That restriction is in keeping with other cannabis laws, especially ones about recreational weed. In states with legal weed, only adults 21 years and over can buy and use recreational cannabis.

Typically, exceptions are made for medical concerns. As evidenced in Colorado and elsewhere, these exceptions generally allow younger people to use non-smokable forms of medical cannabis only.

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