RICHMOND – According to reporting published in the Washington Post, a new bill in Virginia seems to have promise for students who use CBD products.
Currently, disciplinary actions like suspensions and expulsions can be levied against students who use cannabis products in Virginia schools. SB 1632, a bill which has passed the Virginia Senate and is pending House approval, aims to make special exception for students with written permission to use CBD and THC-A oils. [1]
CBD is legal across the U.S. after the 2018 Farm Bill passed in December, but the legal statute within Virginia likewise allows doctors and pharmacists to prescribe CBD oil and other cannabis products. The state also has medical marijuana dispensaries, though a move to nearly double them across the state was voted down in state congress. [1]
Parents, under the possible new law, would have to specify for teachers and school administrators the dosage of CBD or THC-A their child uses and for what purpose, plus how they consume the oil or extract.
According to the story in the Post, more and more students and parents in Virginia and across the country are turning to CBD, a hemp extract that doesn’t make the user high, in lieu of more common schoolroom pharmaceuticals for disorders like ADHD.
This makes good sense, as plenty of CBD fans use it to stay focused and on-task. In 2016, the CDC found that 6.1 million kids between 2 and 17 years old were diagnosed with ADHD, while 5.2 percent of that same age range were medicated for their disorder. [2]
The move in Virginia is not without a national precedent. According to CBD Journal, an 11-year-old in a Chicago suburb won a landmark case in this space in January, 2018, when a suit against her school district resulted in her being allowed to take low-THC, high-CBD cannabis oil at school to combat her epilepsy. [3]
The 11-year-old’s case was decided in an emergency action to get her into school again and resolve the issue as soon as possible, and that means its decision is not meant to extend to other circumstances and cases, but the family lawyer nonetheless told CBD Journal the suit was "a case of great importance.”
The Virginia bill, which seems likely to pass, could be another very promising aspect of that case’s effects throughout the country. As more and more parents start to learn about the lifestyle benefits of cannabidiol use, they may begin to question why those same benefits aren’t being pursued in other areas, like the incredibly medicated schools all around America.
Studies are preliminary as CBD has only recently been legalized on the federal level, but more research into the benefits of CBD is needed if the all-natural, plant-based extract stand any chance of helping America’s children be safe, healthy and well cared-for.
Sources
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/new-law-would-protect-students-who-use-cbd-and-thc-a-oils/2019/02/14/e1400154-30a4-11e9-8781-763619f12cb4_story.html?utm_term=.00a15f7de478
[2] https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html
[3] https://www.cbdjournal.com/11-year-old-illinois-wins-right-use-cbd-oil-school
