Senator’s effort to allow medicinal cannabis in schools moving ahead

Though a similar proposal Hill, D-San Mateo, authored last year also gained favor in the state Legislature, it was not signed by former governor Jerry Brown, who wrote in a letter that he felt the bill should limit medical marijuana use to students whose doctors recommend it to prevent seizures and expressed concern about youth exposure to marijuana and doubts as to its benefits as a treatment for youth ailments.

Hill crafted SB 223 so it ensured schools choosing to allow administration of medicinal cannabis do so under strict rules, including requirements that schools keep a valid medical recommendation for medicinal cannabis use by a student on file, a rule ensuring medicinal cannabis is not stored on campus and a requirement parents or guardians sign in when arriving on campus to administer medicinal cannabis.

Though SB 223 cleared the state Senate in March, it was amended in March and June and will go back to the state Senate for concurrence on those amendments. If it is passed by the state Senate in the next couple weeks, SB 223 will head to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.

Hill added the bill is not a mandate, meaning K-12 school districts, county boards of education and the governing boards of charter schools can choose to allow medicinal marijuana use by eligible students, or vote to stop the practice at any time.

“There’s nothing mandatory,” he said. “It’s just a way for a school to provide the opportunity that every other student can enjoy … a good quality education.”

Hill introduced the bill last year in response to the challenges South San Francisco resident Karina Garcia faced in administering medical cannabis to her teenage son Jojo, who has been diagnosed with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy. Having gone from having 50 seizures daily to seldom experiencing them after he started taking medicinal cannabis to prevent debilitating episodes, Jojo Garcia received his high school diploma in 2018 and is now enrolled in a continuing special education program.

Hill said Karina Garcia has testified at each of the bill’s hearings in the last two years, and added he’s heard from other parents who were previously skeptical of the potential benefits of medicinal marijuana and who have changed their minds after their children responded well to it.

“She is fully committed to seeing this into law,” Hill said of Karina Garcia. “Not just for Jojo, but for many other young people in California who benefit from this.”

Though medicinal cannabis has been legal in California for many years, Hill acknowledged many have harbored reservations about it because it is new and perceived as different from medicine. He said the strict conditions by which medicinal marijuana would be allowed under the bill were drafted in an effort to address concerns those in school communities might have.

The bill would require the student be a qualified medical cannabis patient with a valid medical recommendation for medicinal marijuana, ensure the medicinal cannabis used by eligible students cannot be smoked or vaped and require parents or guardians charged with administering the medicine to bring it to the school and take it away as well as sign in and not disrupt the educational environment.

“We want to make sure that there’s a comfort level established with the use of the medical cannabis,” he said.

Hill noted that under existing law, Karina Garcia was required to take her son 1,000 feet away from his school to administer a dose of cannabis oil, which he felt imposed an unnecessary burden on her for a medicine with no known psychoactive or psychotropic effect.

Hopeful Newsom would have a more compassionate view of a child’s place in school and understand the medical benefits of medicinal cannabis, Hill looked to the effort to alleviate one element of the stress some parents feel and help their children focus on their education.

“I think it will relieve a lot of parents and let their children feel a little more mainstream in the educational arena,” he said.

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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