Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) has signed the bill allowing the storage and administration of non-smokable medical cannabis by school personnel on K-12 school property, the Denver Post reports. The law change removes school principals’ authority to allow or deny medical cannabis on school grounds and allows children with complicated medical conditions to access their medicine.
“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
“I’m pleased to sign this bill, which finally will treat cannabis the same way as other prescribed medicines,” Polis said during the signing on Wednesday.
The bill does allow any school staffer who is uncomfortable storing and administering medical cannabis to recuse themselves, but officials cannot opt out of the law.
Republican state Rep. Kevin Van Winkle, one of the bill’s sponsors, told the Post that the reforms have “been a long road coming.”
“Parents should not have to choose between their child’s education and access to life-saving medication,” he said in the report.
State Sen. Chris Holbert, the Republican who introduced the legislation, has previously called the measure “the most important bill” he would sponsor in his career.
The legislation received bipartisan support from 90 of the state’s 100 lawmakers.
Get daily cannabis business news updates. Subscribe
End