Kids Prescribed Pot for ADHD

Schools' zero-tolerance policies go up in smoke
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 26, 2010 3:22 AM CST
Updated Jan 26, 2010 7:49 AM CST
Kids Prescribed Pot for ADHD
A box is filled with marijuana plants at the San Francisco Medical Cannabis Clinic.   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Schools with a zero tolerance drug policy are running smack dab into the smoldering roach of marijuana legally prescribed to their students. "It does put us in an awkward position," said a principal in Oregon, one of 14 states where medical marijuana is now legal. Hard as it may be to believe, marijuana is being prescribed to children to treat attention deficit disorder. One doctor calls it the "one of the worst ideas of all time" because the active ingredient in cannabis can disrupt attention, memory and concentration, already problems for kids with the disorder.

Not everyone is using their pot scripts for treatment, however. “Some of them have it for medical reasons, but others are just trying to get free weed and sell it, turn it around," said a 17-year-old high school student in Ashland, Ore. A California Supreme Court last week rejected limits on medical marijuana, ruling that anyone with a prescription can grow or buy as much as they want for personal use.
(More marijuana stories.)

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