TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Tuesday night the Leon County School Board voted for qualified students who use medical marijuana to be able to have the drug administered to them on school campuses.
The new policy gets a hard no from parent Thomas Colbert, who said, "If they authorize them to have it in the schools, it would send us down into a spiral that we cannot come out of."
The policy is a requirement for all Florida School Districts to have in place if they want to receive state funding.
But, there are rules Leon County staff has to follow.
As Assistant Superintendent Alan Cox explains, "No Leon County employee will administer it, we will not keep it on the school grounds, but the parents can bring it or a caregiver can bring it and administer it to their child."
The School Board says this is not for kids to get high, but rather for them to get help.
Board Member Rosanne Wood pointed out how parents in the district have contacted her about how the policy would be a good thing for their children.
She says one parent explained that "medical marijuana keeps her child from stuttering and she's appreciative of this policy where she can go to the school if needed."
Board members also mentioned another student who uses medicinal marijuana to help with seizures.
Colbert says although it may help others, he thinks people who are not in need will try to take advatnage.
"I believe that it is simply a way to get many people who are not in need of it to find ways to creatively abuse it. "
Cox says the policy only allows medical marijuana with little to no THC, which is the halluncigen found in the drug.
