Dive Brief:

• In states that legalized recreational marijuana use for adults in November, superintendents are among those looking for more information about addressing drug possession among students and use by school staff.
• District Administration reports the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents opposed its state referendum, arguing easier access to the drug could hurt child brain development, but now that it passed, Executive Director Tom Scott is wondering how schools will address student and staff use.
• Richard Lyons, a superintendent in Maine, hopes strong oversight will reduce teenager use and says the state needs to develop strong early intervention programs, while in Colorado, where recreational marijuana was legalized in 2012, possession is forbidden during school hours and punishments for breaking the rules are in line with those for alcohol possession.

Dive Insight:

Treating marijuana similar to alcohol when it comes to student discipline policy is a good first step for schools adapting to the drug’s newly legalized status. One problem, however, is that testing for alcohol consumption provides a clear indication about how recently someone used the drug. For marijuana, that is not the case. Urine tests can only reveal that someone used the drug at some point in recent weeks or months, making decisions about how to handle legal staff use particularly difficult.

Just as before their states’ referenda, marijuana use of any kind by students is illegal. With the changed legal status of the drug for adults, however, schools may want to rethink policies where expulsion is an automatic response to student possession.