FARMINGTON — The Regional School Unit 9 board of directors approved a set of guidelines Tuesday night for student use of medical marijuana on school property.
The policy, which the board passed unanimously, complies with a state law passed last year that allows students to take prescribed medical marijuana on school grounds as long as it is administered by a parent or guardian.
The RSU 9 policy, titled “Medical Marijuana in Schools,” sets guidelines for who is allowed to administer a prescribed student medical marijuana, where the marijuana can be administered on school grounds and the documentation needed by the school for the prescribed marijuana to be administered.
The policy comes in response to a trend of students bringing medical marijuana brownies to school, Superintendent Tom Ward said last month, after a student was expelled for bringing brownies containing marijuana onto school grounds and consuming them there. The student also gave a brownie to another classmate, but Ward said medical marijuana was not involved in that particular instance.
The policy’s guidelines allow for the administration of medical marijuana to students for whom it has been prescribed, “with a minimum interruption of instructional time for the students and with a minimum of disruption of routine school operations.”
The policy states that the person administering the medical marijuana to the student must provide documentation to the school that he or she is the primary caregiver for the student, a copy of the student’s medical marijuana certification from a medical provider, documentation that the student needs to have the medical marijuana administered during the day rather than before or after school, and a completed “Parent/Medical Provider Request to Administer Marijuana at School” form.
Additionally, the medical marijuana must be administered in a nonsmokable form, must be possessed only by the primary caregiver for the sole purpose of administering it to the student at school, may not be held by any school employee or student with the exception of the student it is being administered to at the time and may be administered only at a supervised and designated area within the school.
The policy also clarifies that only the primary caregiver may administer medical marijuana to the student, and that it may not be done by or delegated to a school employee or any other person.
Certified students may not posses medical marijuana at any time or place except during the administration of the substance, the policy states.
The Augusta school board passed a similar policy in February, and the Winslow school board did so in January.
RSU 9 includes Chesterville, Farmington, Industry, New Sharon, New Vineyard, Temple, Vienna, Weld, Wilton and Starks.
Lauren Abbate — 861-9252
Twitter: @Lauren_M_Abbate
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