A California girl can attend school with her cannabis-based medicine, court rules

Story Highlights A California school district didn't want kindergartner to attend class because she takes cannabis medicine to control seizures

The district worried the medicine violated federal and state law

(CNN) — It took a fight in court, but a 5-year-old girl will be allowed to bring her cannabis-based medicine to school and attend class with other students, according to a ruling by a California administrative court on Friday.

Brooke Adams, a Santa Rosa, California, kindergartner, has Dravet Syndrome . It's a severe and rare form of epilepsy that comes with life-threatening seizures that are unpredictable, frequent and can cause serious damage if not treated quickly. What can help control the seizures, if she gets the medicine fast enough, is cannabis oil. She uses CBD oil as a preventative medication and THC oil as an emergency seizure medication.

The Rincon Valley Union School District previously covered the cost of a private preschool, and a licensed vocational nurse who followed the child on the bus and went with her to class. The nurse stood by, ready with the rescue medication, in case Brooke's had a seizure. But when Brooke's parents met with the district in April to make a plan for kindergarten in a public school, the district declined to place Brooke in a school and refused her access to a school bus. The reason, the district said, was that it had legal concerns about having the cannabis oil on public school property, according to the court documents.

"The assistant superintendent Cathy Myhers had said she would like to have Brooke on campus," said the lawyer for the district Jennifer Nix, but it wasn't clear that it was legal.

Instead, Rincon Valley offered one hour of home instruction a day and continued services of the nurse at home, rather than at school. Brooke's parents wanted her to go to school. Her experience at preschool, interacting with other children and attending class, has helped her grow socially and academically, her family and medical professionals testified.

ValyrianSteelYoGirl on September 26th, 2018 at 06:35 UTC »

Myhers, the Rincon Valley assistant superintendent for student services who oversees the district's special education program, testified that a school campus would be the best place to meet Brooke's educational and social development goals, were it not for the illegality of having the medicine on campus. She testified that there was concern that if Brooke did come to campus with the medicine, it "could potentially jeopardize" funding for the district, since the district is supposed to provide a declaration that it is a drug and alcohol-free campus.

The court determined that the nurse and the child were well within the parameters of California's Compassionate Use Act and the 2003 Medical Marijuana Program Act and interpreted those laws to say that qualified patients and their caregivers can have the medicine with them on the bus and on school grounds "if [they] followed the same procedures on a public school campus that she did in the preschool."

Main point straight from the article.

Jantripp on September 26th, 2018 at 05:30 UTC »

I think people need to read the article. It reads more like the school district wanted to make sure it was legal because it could have hurt them. The school district paid for a private pre-school but public schools have to be able to declare that they're drug-free in order to not jeopardize funding. At no point was anyone suggesting that the girl go to school without her medication. They were saying that if it were not admissible in a public school, she'd have to go to a private school. The district wanted the courts to say it was okay so they'd have their ass covered.

ZeroAfro on September 26th, 2018 at 05:24 UTC »

I don't know why everyone is attacking the school. They were worried and for good reason that having that on campus would seriously break the law.

They even had a nurse to sit with her and ride the bus with her which shows they tried their best. Sometimes you need a court ruling on shit like this. You have a law that's Black and white and then case law that provides exceptions (like this).