Arizona officials have announced that they will no longer investigate reports of marijuana exposure among newborns if the parents are registered patients of medical cannabis.
Arizona Department of Child Safety said that a ruling by a state appellate court that upheld parents’ rights to use medicinal cannabis meant that their own policy had to be revised.
This case involved a mother, who asked to be removed from a list of people who could pose a threat to vulnerable populations like children. She was put on the list after her baby tested positive for THC at a hospital. The appeals court ruled unanimously last year that she should be removed from the register because of her status as a cannabis medical patient.
AZ Central reported that after the state Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal, DCS announced it was implementing a new reform to broaden parental protections for medical cannabis. The administration of Gov. Katie Hobbs (D), will work with DCS in order to update the hotline, and other resources to report child welfare to reflect court precedent.
The new policy only applies to cases where parents are registered medical marijuana patients. It does not affect the rules governing recreational marijuana use.
A DCS spokesperson said Tuesday that the Department must investigate any prenatal substance exposure reported by parents who have a valid medical cannabis card, even if it is for recreational marijuana use. The Department would need to change state law to stop taking reports about recreational prenatal use.
The spokesperson said that the use of marijuana or other drugs following pregnancies is not considered as evidence of neglect of children. To warrant an investigation, drug use must “cause a substantial risk” to the child. Even then, the Department doesn’t remove children solely because of substance abuse.
The Department will remove a child if the parent’s or guardian’s drug use is making the child unsafe and there are no other ways to address the issue.
The spokesperson stated that several DCS policies require updates following the [court] ruling. After a change of administration, the current Department leadership is updating policies and communicating the updates to stakeholders and the field. Our hotline tool will be updated by the end of next month.
Kathryn Ptak is the general counsel at DCS. She said that each year DCS receives 400 reports about drug exposure to newborns, of which more than half involve marijuana. Uncertain is how many of these cases involve parents who are registered as medical marijuana patients.
In recent years, the legalization of marijuana at state-level has led to several reforms in child welfare.
In May, for example, Maryland’s governor signed a law that will ensure that the use of marijuana by parents or guardians in a responsible and lawful manner by them will not be considered by officials of the state as “neglect” of children.
In a similar vein, the Governor of California signed last year a bill that mandates that social workers called to investigate child protection should handle parental marijuana use the same as they would alcohol.
After three years, a study published in august found that states which legalized medical marijuana had seen a drop of nearly 20% in the number children entering foster care because of parental drug abuse. A study published in August found that states that legalized medical marijuana saw a nearly 20 percent drop in the number of children entering foster care due to parental drug misuse after three years.
A separate study, published last year, determined that legalizing cannabis is associated with a 10% decrease in foster care admissions in average. This includes reductions in placements because of physical abuse, negligence, parental imprisonment, and misuses of alcohol and drugs.
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Photo by Mike Latimer.
The article Arizona Officials will stop investigating reports of newborn marijuana exposure if parent is a medical cannabis patient first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
