Al Jazeera reports on 3 states Arizona, Connecticut & Florida.
Here’s the introduction to their piece
Colleges in the United States are becoming a battleground in the conflict between federal and state cannabis laws as students who use medical cannabis challenge decades-old campus drug policies.
In states where medical cannabis is legal, students disciplined for using it are taking their schools to court. College officials argue they could lose federal funding for failing to follow federal law that labels cannabis an illegal drug with no accepted medical use.
Sheida Assar said she was expelled from GateWay Community College in Phoenix last month for violating the school’s drug policy after she tested positive for cannabis, which she uses to treat chronic pain from polycystic ovary syndrome.
She was studying diagnostic medical sonography, Assar said, and an instructor had told her she would not have any problems if she presented her Arizona medical marijuana card. She typically uses cannabis to help her sleep and had never been under the influence in class, she said.
“They yanked me out of class in the middle of the school day,” said Assar, 31, of Chandler, Arizona. “They escorted me to the administration like I was a … criminal. It’s discrimination, and it also violates my rights under the Arizona medical marijuana law.”
The legal challenges are coming from students studying nursing and other medical specialities who, under school policies, must undergo drug testing.
Assar and other students say they received approval to use medical cannabis from college employees who serve students with health-related needs – only to face discipline from higher-ranking school officials.
Assar said she intends to sue GateWay to recoup the $2,000 she spent on tuition and other educational expenses and seek more money in damages. Her lawyer already has been in contact with the school, she said.
A GateWay spokeswoman, Christine Lambrakis, said that she could not confirm Assar’s status at the school and that the college continues to prohibit cannabis use.
Asked about an Arizona Supreme Court ruling last year that overturned a 2012 state law that made possession or use of cannabis on college campuses a crime, Lambrakis said the school is in the process of reviewing its policies and will not change them in the meantime.
Thirty-three states and Washington, DC, allow medical cannabis, and 11 states and Washington, DC, have legalised recreational cannabis, creating clashes with federal law that have been playing out in courts, mostly in employment cases that have had mixed results for medical pot.
There do not appear to be efforts by recreational cannabis users to challenge college drug policies, observers say. That is likely because states limit recreational use to people 21-and-older, excluding most college students, and because there have not been successful legal challenges to campus alcohol policies even though state laws allow people 21-and-over to drink, they say.
States with medical marijuana laws allow use by people 18 years or older with a doctor’s recommendation, as well as by minors if their parents approve.
Read full article https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/colleges-prohibiting-medical-cannabis-campus-face-lawsuits-191024152300689.html
