Rhode Island Bill Would Allow School Nurses to Administer Marijuana

Representative Scott Slater introduced a bill (2018-H 8011) that would permit school nurses to administer medical marijuana to qualified patients. The medicine would have to be a non-smokeable form and the prescription for the medicine would have to be kept on school grounds. With some students suffering from severe seizure disorders, this could be beneficial to them.

School nurses would be protected from prosecution, The Newport Buzz reports. Civil liberties would also be limited. The legislation requires that nurses remove the medicine from school grounds once the dose has been administered.

Slater said, ““We have children suffering from absolutely debilitating diseases and conditions, such as seizures, that are being denied the medicine that allows them to function like normal children.  Without the medicine that, for instance, almost completely eliminates seizures, these children cannot function in a school setting, stunting their educations and growth into productive adults.  If a student has a medical marijuana prescription, they should be afforded the same rights and care that other students have when taking authorized prescription medicine in a school setting.”

Unlike Colorado, and some other states, the child’s parent or primary caregiver would not have to come to the school to administer the medicine to the child – which is a big convenience for families of medical marijuana cardholding children.