Bill Would Let Kids in Washington Use Marijuana at School

House Bill 1060, known as Ducky’s Bill, is in the hands of the Appropriations Committee in Washington State. Ducky’s Bill would allow qualified adolescent medical marijuana patients to use their medicine on school grounds. Use would also be permitted on school buses and on field trips.

It is not known whether all schools will adopt policy to allow on-premises use if the bill passes, according to The Daily World.  Policies would have to be put in place that determine who can administer the medicine, which students qualify and where use would be permitted, to name a few policies expected among a long list of conditions.

The bill is named after River “Ducky” Barclay who suffers intractable seizures. It restricts her class time to half-days. The only thing that helps her is medical marijuana, according to her father, John Barclay. The bill would give him permission, as long as Ducky’s school district adopts policies allowing him, to administer medical marijuana to his daughter on school grounds.

Mr. Barclay said, “With four out of the five seizure medications she tried she presented with even worse seizures. The one thing that didn’t do that or to her didn’t help at all.”

House Bill 1060 is sponsored by Representatives Brian Blake and Jim Walsh. There are several processes to go through before the Legislature will vote on Ducky’s Bill. On February 7, Ducky’s Bill was referred to Appropriations following the acceptance of the 1^st substitute bill to be used rather than the initial draft.

Mr. Barclay also said, “I talked to Walsh and he said with that kind of support from the committee, and only one negative public comment compared to the dozens for it, he didn’t see it being held up in the Rules Committee.”

Minority Leader of the Health Care and Wellness Committee, Representative Joe Schmick, has been helping clarify some of the language in the bill. If the bill passes, it would go into effect in September 2017.