A bill that would force school districts to allow medical marijuana on school grounds is making its way through the state legislature. As part of our Capitol Conversation series, Bente Birkeland speaks with other statehouse reporters about the issue.
Highlights from Capitol Conversation with Bente Birkeland:
On What the Bill Would Do
Charlie Ashby, Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
"Only one school district out of the 178 in the state actually is talking about it. They haven't actually passed anything, but they appear poised to do so….The sponsor [of this bill], Representative Jonathan Singer (D-Longmont), decided to up the ante a bit… to get the votes he needed he basically said even if they don't adopt a policy, parents can go onto school grounds and can bring children these medications."
Peter Marcus, Durango Herald:
"It's Colorado, local control. They don't want to mandate to school districts what they have to do, and that's probably the biggest fight going forward with this."
On the Type of Students That Would Qualify
Peter Marcus, Durango Herald:
"Kids are not going to be bringing joints to school. This is [for] really specialist strains of marijuana that some parents have called a miracle when dealing with seizures for epilepsy and other conditions kids have. The kids don't get high. It's usually an oil, but that's the whole thing, it's this perception that's going around."
Charlie Ashby, Grand Junction Daily Sentinel:
"It's not legal federally. FDA does not recognize it as a [medicine], so it doesn't fit under the same kind of thing, so the schools are afraid that if they let medical marijuana on campus as a policy they'll lose federal funding. Basically they said to the legislature, OK if you want to do this, hold us harmless, make sure you're going to give us the money we would lose if we're going to lose it."
