It is time that we stop treating cannabis like a street drug and start treating it like any other medicine or commodity in society.
Colorado has long been a shining beacon on how to legalize cannabis. Since they have officially gone green in 2012, they have been pioneering cannabis legislation and showing the world that if you legalize drugs — the apocalypse won’t come.
With some of the most inclusive and relaxed cannabis laws on the books, it’s no surprise that a new bill in Colorado would require schools to store cannabis-based medicines for students. Currently students may consume cannabis for medical purposes on school grounds as long as a legal Guardian provides them with the doses.
However, for working parents this is definitely a difficult thing to achieve. Especially when we’re talking about kids that require multiple doses during the day in order to manage their symptoms. For example, a child suffering from a seizure disorder requires multiple doses throughout the day in order to pacify any potential episodes.
This would completely inhibit any Guardian the ability to sustain any type of occupation other than that as the caregiver of the patient. In the instance of a parent that is working, it would be simply detrimental to the overall health and Wellness of the child. Especially if it’s inhibits the caretaker to earn a living.
This new bill aims to make life easier for kids who require multiple doses and would require schools and school districts to have a policy allowing their employees, like a teacher or a school nurse who is willing to administer cannabis is medicine to the students, to be able to do so without any legal repercussions.
While this seems like a no brainer for most people, this bill had to be drafted since there were some opposition in certain school boards who opposed the idea of giving children medicine- if it was cannabis derived. Now, lawmakers aim to rectify this by making it law.
This should be standard within all marijuana legalization initiatives
As more States and countries are legalizing cannabis for medical and recreational purposes, giving children access through the medical benefits should be considered standard practice. How can anyone oppose the idea of providing a child whose life depends on a particular medicine?
These same people would not inhibit a child from taking ADHD medication, or benzodiazepine in order to control symptoms of psychological disorders. Yet when it comes to cannabis, we continue to see a double standard.
In 2021 there is more support for cannabis than there has been since it was first made illegal back in 1937. The international momentum that is built around did legality of cannabis, and the decriminalization of all drugs in general, shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, one could say that there is a sense of acceleration occurring all over the world.
Yet irrespective of this global shift in paradigm, we’re still finding people in key areas of society that oppose this change. For example, Joe Biden is one of these individuals who could very easily put his support behind federal legalization, yet still plays by the rules of the drug war.
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The same rings true for local authorities as well. Nonetheless the majority of society remains constant with their support of cannabis. The Colorado bill that would require schools to store cannabis based medicines for students is a testament to the fact.
When what about the children is used in favor of cannabis
For many decades proponents of prohibition have used the “what about the children” argument in order to sustain the status quo. The argument always followed the same rhetoric in that if we were to legalize cannabis, children would have more access to it which would be detrimental to their health.
RELATED: New Bill Allows School Nurses To Give Medical Marijuana To Students
However, in the case of prohibiting children access to lifesaving medicine, the policy isn’t theoretically detrimental to their health; it is factually detrimental to their health and life. I bet you that no drug warrior saw that one coming.
Time to remove the stigma
It is time that we stop treating cannabis like a street drug and start treating it like any other medicine or commodity in society. The science is clear about the fact that cannabis has a positive effect on the endocannabinoid system. The  endocannabinoid system is responsible for maintaining homeostasis throughout the entire body.
Whether you consume cannabis recreationally or medicinally, you are engaging with this master system at a fundamental level. In essence all consumption is medicinal. When it comes to children there is no law that permits then to smoke cannabis or even have the medicine on hand while on school grounds. The medication given to children typically comes in the form of oils, or sprays, or even gummies, which makes the idea of banning medicinal cannabis on school grounds ludicrous and, frankly, quite evil.
It is time that we remove the stigma of cannabis. You cannot benefit from the earnings of the legal market and continue to treat it like some scourge on society.
This article originally appeared on Cannabit.net and has been reposted with permission.
