While attending the National School Board Association annual convention this past week in Denver, Colorado I was able to take in a number of very informative educational sessions. One was presented by four representatives of the Colorado Springs, Colorado School District 49. Of their 20,000 school enrollment there are 40 youngsters who have prescriptions for medical marijuana. Their presentation was a very straightforward account of the steps they went through to create the policies and procedures to implement for proper handling of meeting the needs of these children while on school property and school busing and related trips. Included was a video of a young mother and her epileptic daughter who appeared to be about seven years old. The girl has multiple medical issues beyond epilepsy. They apply a regimen of "ups" and "downs" to keep her on the level while getting through a typical school day. The mother is notified of any issue noted by the teacher and other school workers, she drops by the school, moves the daughter to a specified location to administer what is needed, then returns the daughter to her classroom.
Many in attendance were representing schools in states that have more recently altered their laws on marijuana and were very appreciative of being able to learn from those who have real world experiences.
School employees must adhere to the Federal guidelines, so being high is treated the same as being drunk. They must test clean at any random drug screening. As anyone over 21 can possess and consume legally, certain protocols have been put in place to handle school visitors (ball games and such events) similarly to how schools watch out for drunk visitors everywhere.
The primary presenter joked at the very start that contrary to rumor there would be no free samples passed out to session attendees. That brought a groan from the crowd. Later he recounted his experience as a school kid in Alaska years ago. He said the local law enforcement there had a saying relative to the calls for domestic violence and such. That was: A man gets drunk and beats his wife. Another man gets high and eats his wife's share of dinner.
There seem to be some very real, tangible benefits to medical marijuana use, especially with diseases like epilepsy and autism. It's good to here that those folks are giving the issue the serious consideration and respect that it deserves.
Do these kids have to smoke their medicine, or are they provided with extracts in pill or liquid form? I had a chat with a doctor many years ago about medical marijuana, and he said the big pharmaceutical companies wanted nothing to do with it. Without a patent, the big companies figured (continue to figure?) that they couldn't make enough money from it to push it as a legislative agenda.
It seems that you should be able to pick it up at the local pharmacy if you have a prescription for it's use, instead of having to go to a special dispensary.
Soon the dispensaries will be popping up in Mass. now that recreational use was legalized.
I was listening to an interview with a woman whose daughter used it and it sounded like it was in an ingestible form. Cookies or something of that nature. The girl has severe autism and will physically beat herself to the point of severely injuring herself. If someone like that can benefit from it then more power to them.
Any drug here including non prescription medicine such as Tylenol etc are strictly regulated on school campuses here. I would think that medicinal marijuana would have to administered by a parent or guardian.
Schools do not want to assume the liability of dispensing and administrating of any prescription drugs.
The students can take it on their own or have a parent/guardian administer it in the school cited. They cannot smoke it on school property. Oils, lotions, patches, capsules and edible forms are fine. They are supposed to move to specific locations for this. The presenters did mention one problem was other students wanting to purchase the drugs from these students.
The presenters described the major legal and public relations expenses incurred in going through the process of creating their policies and procedures for the small percentage of students involved.
A part of getting the law adopted by the state was the requirement that a certain tax or something would be collected to support public education. While technically correct, that is largely a fallacy that has cost school districts in other ways. The annual amount collected is around $40 million. The money can only be used for new construction of educational facilities, I believe they said. There are something like 175 school districts in Colorado that would be trying to get their share. As one presenter stated, "We can't get a new middle school built for $40 million." Meanwhile, when districts approach their local taxpayers for help with supporting a bond issue for new construction the standard response is negative because the average citizen hears that there is this special tax from marijuana going to support the schools. It's better than a sharp stick in the eye, but it doesn't go very far compared to the true costs of construction.
Public Schools in NE Texas have such a strict policy on drugs that no student can have any medicine, prescribed or not or over the counter on them or in their vehicles at any time while on school campus grounds.
This includes herbals, vitamins, aspirin, seltzer, pepto and anything else.
Penalty is immediate expulsion and the BOE will decide if they can return to class.
my oldest daughter is epileptic. likely the result of the hemorrhage at birth. anyways, the anti-convulsives we had to put her on in order for her to attend school turned her into a complete zombie. don't get me wrong- watching your kid have a seizure never gets fun, but having them stumble around like an automaton for several critical developmental years isn't any better.
i very strongly considered at one point... importing... some alternative medicine for her. i have a couple buddies from college who moved to california and have done quite well for themselves in the past 20+ years being at the forefront of development of these sorts of medicines.
plan would have been to keep filling up the scrips to keep the paperwork people happy and just donating the stuff to the local compost pile, and give kiddo a try on the alternative. very fortunate in that her epilepsy has subsided as she has grown, and while her EEGs will almost certainly never get anywhere near "normal", in a sympomatic sense she's basically a normal kid now. (fingers crossed as we're at almost 3 years seizure-free and med-free.)
but it's pretty remarkable what happens when you take something that's always been a non-starter and remove the lid...
and it's at near critical mass at this point- something approaching half the states have some degree of legalization in place. and while there is a whole boatload of red herrings involved in the issue- on both sides- i suspect you'll see the rest (or almost all of the rest) of the states- such as the one i live in- jump on the legalization board before too long. something i once cared much more about than i do now and once never imagined i'd ever see.
Peter Lothian - MA ME, post: 420687, member: 4512 wrote: Soon the dispensaries will be popping up in Mass. now that recreational use was legalized.
From the radio interview I heard yesterday, that's not true... Possession is legal, growing is legal. Commercial production and sale is not. So from what that interview said, you can have it, you can use it, but you can't buy it at the store. Not sure who they were talking to or the credibility of that person as it was merely on in the background but...
Zoidberg, post: 420809, member: 8841 wrote: From the radio interview I heard yesterday, that's not true... Possession is legal, growing is legal. Commercial production and sale is not. So from what that interview said, you can have it, you can use it, but you can't buy it at the store. Not sure who they were talking to or the credibility of that person as it was merely on in the background but...
[MEDIA=youtube]uYSt8K8VP6k[/MEDIA]
Zoidberg, post: 420809, member: 8841 wrote: From the radio interview I heard yesterday, that's not true... Possession is legal, growing is legal. Commercial production and sale is not. So from what that interview said, you can have it, you can use it, but you can't buy it at the store. Not sure who they were talking to or the credibility of that person as it was merely on in the background but...
Medical marijuana use was made legal in 2012, and the state got on with establishing regulations through the Mass. Dept. of Public Health. They dragged their feet about it, though. Last November, the recreational use was legalized by a referendum vote. I'm sure there will be more foot-dragging on getting the regulatory schema in place.
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2016/11/10/massachusetts-pot-shops-open-deadline/
just got in last night from taking the family up to celebrate mom's 70th.
and per usual, we flew frontier- albeit begrudgingly- because they come in SO much lower than anyone else to fly between these two particular non-hub airports.
of course that means connecting through denver. and last night on the way home was the third straight time coming back from denver where some dude was bugging out due to having over-enjoyed a brownie or gummy bears or who-knows-what before boarding his return flight from his colorado vacation. for about 10 minutes they were talking about turning the plane around. then they asked if there were any first responders on the plane.
so i asked the flight attendant how often they have to deal with that these days.
"every day, honey."
hahahahahaha. thinking flights from denver would be a compelling short film or video series- at least for a little while. having nursed many a friend/fellow student/random person at a party through getting a little too green, i'd get some entertainment out of it.
oh, also got the marijuana talk out of the way with my 13 year old. probably about time to do that, for some reason it hadn't occurred to me to do it yet, until last night...
[USER=20]@paden cash[/USER] [USER=379]@FL/GA PLS.[/USER]
Have you bad boys been to Denver lately? If so, you should have introduced yourself to Flyin Solo.
flyin solo, post: 426672, member: 8089 wrote: some dude was bugging out due to having over-enjoyed a brownie or gummy bears
[MEDIA=youtube]4CUxCpcayKo[/MEDIA]
flyin solo, post: 426672, member: 8089 wrote: we flew frontier- albeit begrudgingly
I flew frontier once from DC to Cabo...I'd have to be high to do it again.
James Fleming, post: 426677, member: 136 wrote: I flew frontier once from DC to Cabo...I'd have to be high to do it again.
i hate frontier... need some water? gonna cost ya. need to pee? that might cost you too.
BUT... i pay 49 bucks a year and i can get to denver in 2 hours for under 100 bucks round trip. can't drive there for that much in gas.
so they make ski trips possible. and visiting the many friends i have in the area. and, i guess, getting to omaha cheaply.
but i avoid frontier at all costs otherwise. probably now including getting to omaha.
Holy Cow, post: 426674, member: 50 wrote: [USER=20]@paden cash[/USER] [USER=379]@FL/GA PLS.[/USER]
Have you bad boys been to Denver lately? If so, you should have introduced yourself to Flyin Solo.
Haven't been in some time. I do need to get up there though and see my nephew's new dig$ in Boulder (la-tee-dah!). He's got three girls and the oldest is just starting middle school. Having known him and his history I would really like to be a fly on the wall when he has the "weed talk" with his kids!
paden cash, post: 426680, member: 20 wrote: Haven't been in some time. I do need to get up there though and see my nephew's new dig$ in Boulder (la-tee-dah!). He's got three girls and the oldest is just starting middle school. Having known him and his history I would really like to be a fly on the wall when he has the "weed talk" with his kids!
if they live there i can't see how he hasn't had it yet. we just went downtown on our layover to grab some lunch and the kids kept asking where the skunks were...
flyin solo, post: 426678, member: 8089 wrote: i hate frontier... need some water? gonna cost ya. need to pee? that might cost you too.
I flew to Vegas for a conference on Spirit a couple of years ago...made Frontier look like Pan-Am circa 1963
flyin solo, post: 426682, member: 8089 wrote: if they live there i can't see how he hasn't had it yet. we just went downtown on our layover to grab some lunch and the kids kept asking where the skunks were...
Hilarious.
Here's a funny story from almost 20 years ago. A friend of ours had a (At that time) pre-teen daughter that was in soccer. And our friend had the proverbial "soccer mom" van and was the neighborhood taxi after games.
After one particularly long game all the kids piled in and my friend Linda told the kids she "was sorry, but she had to have a smoke" and all the girls rolled the windows down. One of the young girls spoke up and said her parents only smoked cigarettes after the kids had gone to bed, but they rolled their own and didn't buy them from the store....
It was a few days later that my friend realized the young girl's father was the City Attorney.
