School District of Osceola County approves medical marijuana policy

New policy prevents medical marijuana from being stored at school

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – The School District of Osceola County approved a policy Tuesday that allows for students to consume medical marijuana while at school.

It comes after Volusia and Orange counties passed a similar policy.

Osceola's policy passed with a 4-1 vote.

The new policy prevents the medical marijuana from being stored at the school. Instead, a parent or legal guardian must travel to the school with the medicine and administer it to their child in a designated area. The parent or guardian will then take it with them off campus when they leave.

School board member Kelvin Soto said state law requires the district to make a policy addressing medical marijuana in Florida.

"When medical marijuana is prescribed to children, OK, it is usually a medicine of last resort," Soto said. "I'm glad to know that if in the future that if there is a student that needs that, that now we have a rule in place that will allow the parent to come in and give that medicine to the student so that student can feel well."

Celebration resident Tom Varacky showed up to the meeting, opposing the policy. He said he wants to see more research before any decisions are made.

"I don't think there's enough data for pro and con, and that's why I'm concerned about pushing it into the school," Varacky said.

School officials also said that currently, there are no students with a medical marijuana prescription.


About the Author:

Troy graduated from California State University Northridge with a Bachelor's Degree in Communication. He has reported on Mexican drug cartel violence on the El Paso/ Juarez border, nuclear testing facilities at the Idaho National Laboratory and severe Winter weather in Michigan.

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