Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Katherine F. Sellards, RN
March 3, 2017
MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADMINISTRATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 2
Summary
School aged children in Washington state that are affected by specific medical conditions
are currently required to leave school premises in order to receive their scheduled dose of
medical marijuana. Because public schools have no policies regarding medical marijuana, the
parent must interrupt the childs class time, take them to an area off of school property, and then
return the child to school. HB 1060 (2017) would address this problem and require public
school premises.
Background
Seven-year-old River Barclay, who began having seizures at the age of four, inspired HB
1060. John Barclay, Rivers father, provided testimony stating that because of her seizure
disorder and multiple prescribed antiepileptic seizure medications, River has experienced some
developmental delays. He also states that since she has been treated with a pure form of medical
marijuana, her teachers have noticed a new enthusiasm for learning and have suggested a
possibility of catching up with other children her age over time. However, because there is no
policy allowing for administration of medical marijuana, John takes his daughter home after only
three hours of school, which is another barrier for River to continue to advance developmentally.
Research regarding pediatric epilepsy and medical marijuana treatment has shown that with the
use of medical marijuana high in cannabidiol (CBD), seizure activity decreased, while language,
HB 1060 would require schools, when requested, to adopt a policy allowing for
administer the medication in an area designated by the school, and then remove any remaining
According to the Washington State Department of Health (2017), there are seventy
minors registered in the medical marijuana database. These are seventy minors that either have
their days interrupted to leave school premises in order to receive their medications or do not
attend school because of the lack of a policy allowing for medical marijuana administration.
All children are entitled to an education equal to their peers and must not be
discriminated against because of this type of medication used to treat the condition. HB 1060
will allow for provisions to be made in order for these children to received their medication as
any other child receiving treatment for conditions, such asthma, diabetes, or allergies.
Currently, Colorado and New Jersey have already enacted laws that allow for medical
Recommendations
I recommend to pass HB 1060 so that children affected by conditions that require them to
be treated with medical marijuana can attend a full day of school to receive an education and to
REFERENCE
Tzadok, M., Uliel-Siboni, S., Linder, I., Kramer, U., Epstein, O., Menascu, S., Nissenkorn, A.,
Yosef, O., Hyman, E., Granot, D., Dor, M., Lerman-Sagie, T., Ben-Zeev, B. (2016). CBD-
enriched medical cannabis for intractable pediatric epilepsy: The current Israeli
Washington State Department of Health. (2017). Data and Statistics. Retrieved from:
www.doh.wa.gov/YouandYourFamily/Marijuana/MedicalMarijuana/DataandStatistics