Governor Jack Markell signs bills to allow medical marijuana use on school grounds; allow those with terminal illness access to medical marijuana

DOVER, DE — Governor Jack Markell has signed legislation into law permitting qualified patients access to medical cannabis formulations while on school grounds.

Senate Bill 181 permits a caregiver to administer cannabis extracts to a patient “in a school bus and on the grounds or property of the preschool, or primary or secondary school in which a minor qualifying patient is enrolled.”

The law is similar to legislation adopted in Colorado and New Jersey – the only two other jurisdictions that explicitly permit qualified patients to utilize cannabis preparations while on school campuses.

Separate legislation also signed into law, House Bill 400, expands the list of the pool of patients eligible for cannabis therapy to include those with a terminal illness and/or specific symptoms associated with such an illness.