Students in New Jersey with developmental disabilities can now take their doses of medical marijuana in schools, as long as they have proper prescriptions and aid from their educators.
This is now possible after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie recently signed a new law allowing medical marijuana use in schools—the first of its kind in the United States.
The new legislation primarily seeks to help those with potential life-threatening conditions, such epileptic seizures, who need to consume prescribed dosages of edible marijuana.
The law was particularly triggered by the case of 16-year-old Genny Barbour, whose parents resorted to legal action for their daughter to be allowed to receive her midday dosage of cannabis oil from a nurse at the Larc School, a special education school in Bellmawr in southern New Jersey.
Larc School director Susan Weiner welcomed the state decision's positive response to Barbour's case. "Clearly this has been in discussion for quite a while and we are happy to accommodate and certainly want to help out families," Weiner said in a report from NJ.com.
Roger Barbour, Genny's father, was also elated by the new law. "[We're] thrilled we have gotten to this point," Barbour said.
Under the new legislation, parents and children are required to register and get identification cards under New Jersey's medical marijuana programme.
Registered parents and students must then provide their identification cards to the school, which in turn will keep copies of these documents on file.
Parents are also allowed to administer the medication to their children themselves, provided that they do so in a private room with a staff member present.
In a related development, the Senate judiciary committee is set to start for the first time on Monday hearings on proposals to legalise the sale and use of marijuana in New Jersey. Lawmakers will particularly tackle how to regulate and tax marijuana in the state.
