WHEELING — West Virginia has established a policy pertaining to the use of medical cannabis in schools, and Ohio County Board of Education members were briefed on the new guidelines Monday night.
To date, there have been no requests for the use of medical cannabis by students in the school district, according to Ohio County Schools nurse Melissa Soltesz.
The new policy for medical cannabis is more restrictive than existing policy for other medications, Soltesz told board members.
Normally when a school nurse is asked to give medication to a student while at school, an order from a physician is required. The nurse also has to have a parental signature, and the medication must be kept in a drawer or cabinet that can be locked, she said.
“This is much stricter,” Soltesz continued. “This is not a situation where we simply (need) a doctor’s order or a parent’s order.”
The parent or guardian must first apply for and receive a medical cannabis card for their child from the State Department of Health and Human Resources. The youth also must apply separately for an identification card from the DHHR.
Then a physician certification has to be issued stating that medical cannabis is necessary for the student’s medical condition.
“This isn’t something we’re going to be keeping in our buildings,” Soltesz added. “It specifically says we cannot keep any of this on site. The caregiver would have to come to the school, and they would need to administer the medical cannabis. It cannot be delegated. It has to be the caregiver who has the card.”
That keeps the school district from having liability in the procedure, she explained.
If a student with a certified medical condition is found to no longer need medical cannabis, they need to notify their school’s principal within 10 days.
The medical cannabis administered cannot be in plant form, but must be in the semblance of a pill, drop or gummy form. It cannot be in a smokable form, according to Soltesz.
“At this point, we’ve not had a physician even try to give us any type of an order to administer medical cannabis in the school system,” she explained. “This (policy) actually makes it more difficult.
“If someone truly needs medical cannabis they will go through these steps. If they don’t, they won’t waste their time because it is a tedious process.”
The Ohio County Board of Education next meets at 6 p.m. on Oct. 23 at the board office, 2203 National Road, Wheeling.
Source : The Intelligencer
