While not a school nurse, I am a frequent lurker on the forum. I love reading the posts here because it gives me (a public health nurse) a better idea of what's going on in schools that I work with sometimes in a public health capacity.
I am wondering if any of you have had to deal with medical marijuana in schools yet? Has that conversation come up at all, and what are the policies in your areas?
and it looks like some schools are making the move to be able to have the school nurses dispense the medical marijuana like any other medication. I live in Colorado, so I hear plenty about marijuana. Colorado passed a law last year to allow schools to adopt policies for school nurses to be able to dispense it as ordered medication, but as far as I know no schools have actually done so. It seems like that would violate the drug free policies that most schools have in order to be able to receive federal funding.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and I look forward to hearing the perspectives of school nurses on this topic.
If I remember correctly in the NJ case it is an oil that seems to be the only thing that works for this child's intractable seizures. The kid was seizing almost constantly and the MM has all but stopped them. Parents must come in and admin but the med can be kept locked in the nurses office.
Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
CBD oil is the formulation used for epilepsy in the NJ case. There is a multi center pediatric hospital phase 2 placebo controlled trial in progresses through several well known pediatric hospitals for children with intractable epilepsy (most common diagnosis is LGS). I wouldn't believe the results had I not seen one first hand. Some somnolence (not unlike other anti-seizure drugs and "munchies" aka increased appetite in a good way as many of these kids are thin to underweight because the anti epileptic drugs crush appetite.
Under no circumstances administer this without checking with the BON first. If this is something the mother is cooking up herself at home, I would never administer it, the mother would have to come in and give it herself. The school will develop their polices for themselves, they couldn't care less about your license or legal responsibilities, that's on you to figure out. This drug is not legal on a federal level and to me, that's means it's something I can't administer as a nurse.
-Once the student turns 18, he or she may NOT take medical marijuana at school (dumbest part of this law IMHO).
The ONLY reasoning that I can think of for this is that once they are 18, they could self-administer and that might require them to kept it with them on campus? Surely there are better ways to solve that concern. This just seems like a silly stipulation and one that might cause a student to drop out when they reach 18 and start having trouble taking their medication without it interfering in their school schedule.
We have discussed this with hash oil being legalized in NC for intractable seizures. The way the law is written here, hash oil can only be given by a "caregiver" which is defined in the law as a parent/guardian who is registered with the state. Our state Dept of Public Instruction attorney has determined that we do not meet those requirements and cannot accept orders or administer hash oil in the schools. However, if the parent wants to come to the school and give it, they can.
I agree with DeeAngel that because it's illegal federally, it's not something I would feel comfortable with administering. And I think because of that fact, most school's wouldn't even want it administered on campus by a parent/guardian.
With that said, once it is legal federally, then by all means I will administer it as needed as prescribed as I do all legal medicines. It's my understanding that medical marijuana used for children/adolescents is in pill or liquid form and doesn't produce a high anyway (though I admit I have not done my full research).
Interesting enough, I am teaching an entire class on marijuana this week to my 11th graders. We are going to look at it from some different angles (health prospective, social, etc.) and hopefully will have a respectable discussion.
As for administering it in school...I am admittedly not looking forward to this because it does ride a fine line with other policies, but MMJ is legal in MA. I wonder if it is coming. I suspect the guidelines will be similar to what Ohio posted.
I do wonder about its effect on school performance though, especially testing. But, then again, one could argue the pain, seizures, etc have a greater impact on learning, so benefits vs. risks.
In the article for the New Jersey school it looks like it was an edible formulation; a concentrated oil with 4 drops given in a small glass of soda for the student to take with lunch. In that case it looks like the mother of the child is the one who manufactured the oil. Myself, I would be nervous to give something that hasn't been quality controlled for correct concentration and dosing the way medications approved by the FDA have been.
We (in my state) are not allowed to administer anything that isn't FDA approved. I am sure that trial drugs fall under a different category. As for Louisiana, as of this time we can not administer medical Marijuana in school. There is Marinol, which is FDA approved, although we have not received orders for school administration, I have heard of students that take it at home.
Windchaser22
408 Posts
If I remember correctly in the NJ case it is an oil that seems to be the only thing that works for this child's intractable seizures. The kid was seizing almost constantly and the MM has all but stopped them. Parents must come in and admin but the med can be kept locked in the nurses office.