School nurses in Colorado now can administer nonsmokable medical marijuana to students whose parents have given permission.
Colorado law already permitted parents to give their children medical marijuana at school, typically for treating seizures. A new law signed this week by Gov. John Hickenlooper allows parents to bring the medicine to a school nurse’s office for a child who has a medical marijuana card.
The law requires that the medicine be kept in a locked storage container and that the school principal and a parent have a written agreement. It also says the parent must bring a doctor’s note that instructs the school nurse about dosage and timing.
Under the law, students receiving medical marijuana at school cannot carry the medicine to the nurse’s office or bring it on a school bus.
The governor, in a letter, said he signed House Bill 1286 because of the protections to ensure medical marijuana would not “end up in the hands of other students.”
Hickenlooper also said he consulted parents whose children receive medical marijuana and found their “reasoning and advocacy very compelling.”
The law does not require school staff to administer doses of medical marijuana, only giving them permission.
