Washington Could be the 5th State to Allow Medical Cannabis in Schools

      The Washington State Senate has passed a bill requiring school districts to allow parents to administer CBD infused products on public school grounds, on buses and at school sanctioned events. Following a 77-19 vote in the Washington House, the bill passed easily in the Senate with a vote of 41-4 and is now headed back to the House for final approval. Students receiving the nonsmokable cannabidiol must be registered in the state medical cannabis database and only their parents are permitted to administer the CBD rich products, a provision meant to protect school district employees from issues with the Federal Government. Additionally, portions of the bill requires a review of the program if the federal Government does threaten school funding.

      The prime sponsor of the bill for the third year, Representative Brian Blake, D Aberdeen commented “We want to give the school system, the K-12 system, some comfort because they said they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. I think there was some objections in the Republican caucus about the word marijuana in the title. think it freaked people out.”

 (From Rep Brian Blake quote to Spokesman Review)

      Despite recent advances in Cannabidiol public policy and science, thirty three states and D.C. have full plant medical cannabis systems, with ~17 more having high CBD laws, the FDA famously approved the first oral CBD spray in 2018 and the University of Alabama Birmingham recently found CBD to be an effective treatment for seizure disorders, school districts around the country still struggle at the intersection of local, state and Federal cannabis laws. Remarkably, if passed Washington would only be the fifth state to require school districts statewide to allow parents to administer medical cannabis at schools.