How high should a high schooler be? The Massachusetts Legislature wants to find out

The Legislature made last-minute moves on cannabis reform, sending the governor a host of changes to the state’s weed laws including a proposal to study giving students access to medical marijuana.

“The cannabis control commission, in consultation with the department of elementary and secondary education and the department of public health, shall conduct a study on the possession, administration and consumption of medical marijuana, as defined in chapter 94I, at public or private schools in the commonwealth as it relates to students,” the proposed law reads.

The goal of reform, according to lawmakers, is to make a booming industry available to those communities most affected by the illegalization of pot. The law, as written, will also increase state oversight of how towns and cities doll out cannabis licenses and begins laying the foundation for on-site consumption establishments.

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz, Cannabis Policy Committee chair, said the bill fixes a broken system.

“It will re-balance the playing field where, so far, wealthy corporations have been able to buy their way through the licensing process and yet, too many local small businesses and Black and brown entrepreneurs have been locked out of the industry,” she said.

Gov. Charlie Baker generally will not comment on a bill except to say he will consider signing it after review, a point his spokesman made again to the Herald Monday.

The compromised legislation that emerged from the joint committee hours after the Legislature was to have concluded their formal business for the year left both chambers without a Senate provision which would have made medical marijuana available to both inmates and students at public schools.

The latter half of that idea will now be studied by the Legislature, according to Senate Ways and Means Chairman and conference committee member Sen. Michael Rodrigues, who said the committee will study “the use of medical marijuana in schools so that we can find a path forward for students that would greatly benefit from medical use marijuana as an accommodation.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “marijuana use during adolescence and young adulthood may harm the developing brain.”

Additionally, the CDC says that teens who use marijuana may be at greater risk of developing some mental illnesses.

“The association between marijuana and schizophrenia is stronger in people who start using marijuana at an earlier age and use marijuana more frequently,” the federal agency’s page on public health reads.

A spokesperson for the Senate President’s office confirmed the study would be looking into the use of medical marijuana by students.

It is unclear how the plan, if it were to be implemented after the study, would square with current federal law, which still lists marijuana as a Schedule I drug, which “are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

READ THE LEGISLATION: Cannabis Reform Act

Herald wire service contributed.