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Eagle County boy’s cannabis amendment becomes state law, signed Monday by Gov. Hickenlooper

Randy Wyrick / Vail Daily
Last weekend, Quintin Locato toured the facility where his medication, Haleigh's Hope, is manufactured. The medication helpd him fight epilepsy and Tourette's Syndrome.
Special to the Daily

GYPSUM — Monday, June 4, was 9-year-old Quintin Lovato’s best day ever.

First, Gov. John Hickenlooper signed into law Quintin’s Amendment, which will make life easier for Quintin, his family and hundreds of other families around the state.

“It makes me feel excited. It’s the fourth and four is my lucky number, and it’s the MLB draft date. It’s the best day ever!” said Quintin, a huge baseball fan.



Quintin’s Amendment, named for 9-year-old Quintin Lovato, will now allow school officials to administer medical marijuana to students.

“It’s going to help everyone, not just Quintin,” said Hannah Lovato, Quintin’s mom.



THIS IS HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO WORK

State Rep. Dylan Roberts said this is how government is supposed to work.

“The Lovatos came to me with a problem they were having, I wrote a bill to fix it, they traveled to the Capitol to testify several times, it passed and now it is law with the governor’s signature today,” Roberts said. “I could not be more proud to know Quintin. I am so inspired by his bravery, compassion and desire to make people’s lives a little bit better. His amendment to current law does just that: makes people’s lives better.”

In signing the bill, Hickenlooper had high praise for the Lovato family.

“In evaluating this bill, we spoke with parents whose children are medical marijuana patients,” Hickenlooper said in his letter. “Their message was overwhelmingly persuasive, and we sign this bill today with much admiration for Quintin, and expect great things in the future from this impressive young man.”

QUINTIN’S AMENDMENT TO JACK’S LAW

Colorado lawmakers passed Jack’s Law in the 2017 session, allowing a parent or caregiver to come to the school and administer a dose of medical marijuana to their child. Quintin’s Amendment to that law would allow school nurses and designated personnel to give Quintin and others like him their cannabis-based medications.

Quintin suffers from epilepsy and Tourette’s syndrome and has since March 2014 when he fell to the ground in his first grand mal seizure. By 2017, he had full-blown Tourette’s syndrome, complete with head bobbing and vocal tics.

They added Haleigh’s Hope CBD Oil to his daily medication, and he started to improve in a week.

Quintin needs three doses a day, one in the middle of his school day. Quintin’s parents give him his morning and evening medications, but sometimes had to miss the mid-day dose because the family is large and both parents work.

Quintin’s Amendment changes that.

“Medical marijuana has provided some amazing results for kids such as Quintin and there is no reason why he should not have the same access to this medicine while he is at school as all other students have with other medicines,” Roberts said. “The CBD oil kids are taking for epilepsy and other conditions is medicine and it has no THC, so the kids are not getting high and it is significantly improving their day-to-day lives. It is time to stop stigmatizing these innovations in medicine, and this bill becoming law is one way to do that.”

Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 and rwyrick@vaildaily.com.


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