Student inspires D-49 to become first Colorado district to allow medical marijuana on campus
Legislation is on Gov. John Hickenlooper’s desk to require Colorado school districts to implement medical marijuana policies, but one Southern Colorado district didn’t wait for him to sign it.
D-49 became the first in the state Thursday night to allow qualified students to receive non-inhalable cannabinoid medication on school property.
One student and his family served as the inspiration.
Jaxon Stormes suffers from seizures caused by a severe form of epilepsy.
His mom Jennie knows he needs cannabis medication to survive.
“It truly has been the only thing that’s helped him in 16 years,” Stormes said.
Last year, Jaxon was suspended from Sand Creek High School after his mom accidentally packed cannabis medication in his lunch.
Since then, D-49 turned its focus to helping about 40 students in need to find a way to take non-smokeable medical marijuana on school grounds.
“We’ve learned that some of these students miss over 2,000 minutes per year in the classroom because they are simply going off campus to take these cannabinoid products, then come back on campus,” district spokesman Matt Meister said.
The Legislature approved a measure that would require schools across Colorado to let students use medical marijuana on campus.
According to Hickenlooper’s office, he could sign this bill as early as next week.
Some southern Coloradans like Stan Lightfoot oppose the policy.
“If they have the medical marijuana, what’s the next step?,” Lightfoot wondered. “Where do we go from here? It only took us a year to go from medical marijuana to legalize recreational marijuana. I don’t know where that’s going to go with the schools and that concerns me.”
The D-49 policy goes into effect this fall.
It requires either parents or other approved caregiver to administer the medical marijuana, not school nurses.
District leaders invite other districts around the state to use D49’s policy to help craft their own.
To read the policy, click the following link to download the board’s agenda, and scroll down do page 378.
