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Tag: marijuana legislation

  • Students Allowed To Use Medical Cannabis In School Under New Illinois Law

    Students Allowed To Use Medical Cannabis In School Under New Illinois Law

    Both students and parents must first meet specific requirements in order to administer the product on campus.

    A bill that will allow parents or guardians to give medical cannabis to children in school was signed into law by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner.

    HB 4870 was signed on August 1, 2018 after passing the Illinois House and Senate with near-unanimous support in May; the bill amends the state’s School Code to authorize parents or guardians to administer a “cannabis-infused product” to qualifying students on school property or a school bus.

    Both students and parents must first meet specific requirements, including double certification from registered physicians, in order to administer the product.

    The bill, sponsored by State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D- Chicago), is also known as Ashley’s Law, after Ashley Surin, who filed a federal lawsuit against the state and the Schaumberg School District 54 in 2018 for the right to use medical marijuana in school to treat debilitating seizures.

    As High Times noted, HB 4870 parents and child cannot use medical marijuana on school property without first meeting several requirements.

    Both parties must enroll in the state’s Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act and receive a registry identification card.

    Parents or guardians must also have a registration card identifying them as a designated caregiver, while students must be qualifying patients as established by the Act, meaning that they have been diagnosed with one of a number of “severe, debilitating or life-threatening” medical conditions, including cancer, HIV/AIDS, muscular dystrophy, PTSD and seizures, including those related to epilepsy.

    The medical marijuana used by parents and children also cannot disturb the school’s environment or other students, which means that smokeable cannabis or vaping is prohibited.

    Students can use orally-ingested cannabis oil or tinctures, transdermal patches or topical ointments. The law also states that a school nurse or other staff is not required to administer medical cannabis to students.

    “This will open the door potentially for kids like Ashley and other kids in Illinois to have medical marijuana on school grounds that can be administered in a situation where it’ll regulate these type of illnesses,” said Ashley Surin’s father, Jim Surin, in conversation with WCIS, the ABC affiliate serving Springfield and Decatur.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Oklahoma Senator: Vote No On Medical Marijuana, It's "Harmful" to Families

    Oklahoma Senator: Vote No On Medical Marijuana, It's "Harmful" to Families

    “No one will convince me that our families will be better if only more parents and grandparents smoke more marijuana,” Senator Lankford said in a statement.

    High Times has reported that U.S. Senator James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) is asking his constituents to vote against a measure that would legalize the medicinal use of marijuana.

    Lankford and the conservative religious group Oklahoma Faith Leaders issued a joint statement on May 31 in which they described the measure, State Question 788 (SQ 788)—which would legalize the possession, use and production of cannabis for medical purposes—as “harmful to the social fabric of Oklahoma.”

    Lankford added that he believed that the measure was actually a ruse by “outside groups that actually want access to recreational marijuana.” Oklahomans can voice their opinion on the measure as part of the statewide election on June 26.

    The measure is the work of Oklahomans for Health, which led a signature drive to include it on the June 26 ballot. Under SQ 788, no specific medical conditions would be required to qualify for a license, but patients would need a signature from a board-certified physician in order to obtain one. Licenses would also be required to operate a commercial growing operation or processing operation, and would require a fee of $2,500.

    Users would be allowed to possess up to three ounces of marijuana on their person and eight ounces in their home; a 7% tax would be levied on sales, with the funds going to substance dependency rehabilitation, education and administrative costs. 

    Proponents have said that the measure will benefit patients and reduce costs to taxpayers for enforcement of prohibition. Opponents cite a lack of sufficient restrictions, including where dispensaries can be located and whether employers can test for marijuana use. Senator Lankford’s statement took a broader approach in its criticism, suggesting that state residents will become “more drug addicted and distracted” if the measure is passed.

    “Most of us have seen first-hand the damage done to families and our communities from recreational marijuana,” Lankford wrote. “No one will convince me that our families will be better if only more parents and grandparents smoke more marijuana.”

    Tulsa World noted that Oklahoma Faith Leaders is directed by Paul Abner, an evangelist who was also a paid “faith-based consultant” for Lankford’s Senate campaign in 2014.

    According to Federal Election Commission records, Abner, who is also a current Republican candidate for State House District 100 in Oklahoma City, received at least $75,000 from Lankford since 2014.

    View the original article at thefix.com