The latest change in medical cannabis treatment for children came after the California Assembly approved a bill this week. This newly passed bill would put the decision for medical cannabis treatment medications in the hands of the school’s school board. California state law currently prohibits medical cannabis, alongside any recreational cannabis product, from 1,000 feet of any school campus. Students who have a medical cannabis treatment regimen for seizures and have to venture more than 1,000 feet away to legally take the dose or dosages of medication.
Proponents of the recently passed bill are in support of a complete removal of the distance requirement on medical cannabis medications. Bill supporters believe that the current off-campus requirement is dangerous and unreasonably burdensome for children who need access to medication.
The Senate will give it a final vote and then it will be up to Governor Gavin Newsom to sign it into law. Former Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed similar legislation last year and did not make California the 8th state to allow for medical cannabis treatments in schools. At the time of the similar legislation, Colorado Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey and Washington all allowed for medical cannabis treatments in their schools.
The previous bill vetoed by former Gov. Jerry Brown last year, SB1127 by Senator Jerry Hill, would have allowed for a parent or guardian of a child to administer the prescribed medical cannabis on location. However, despite the fact that the bill would allow for a child to receive treatment by medical cannabis on campus, it would not have allowed for the medicine to be stored at the school. Since the bill was vetoed, students have had to continue the practice of leaving campus to receive their medical treatment and miss a significantly greater amount of time than if the treatment could be received at the school itself.
Senator Jerry Hill, of SB1127 (Jojo’s Act), stated: “This is very disruptive to their learning.”
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