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Local third grader asks state lawmakers to allow schools to provide prescribed medical marijuana

Nine-year old Quintin Lovato, center, testified before the Colorado House Health Committee in favor of Quintin's Amendment, which would allow school nurses to administer doctor-prescribed medical marijuana. Quintin's mother, Hannah Lovato, left, also testified. Rep. Dylan Robert, D-Eagle, is the measure's sponsor.
Special to the daily

DENVER — A local third-grader is so passionate that he marched into a state House of Representatives committee hearing and asked for their help passing Quintin’s Amendment, and stayed up way past his bedtime to do it.

Nine-year-old Quintin Lovato, his mother Hannah and others from his family testified Thursday evening, April 5, asking the Colorado House of Representatives House Health Committee to pass the amendment, along with other patients, their families and some school nurses. Some school nurses and administrators testified against it.

Jack’s Law allows a parent or caregiver to come to school and administer a dose of medical marijuana to the student. Quintin’s Amendment to that law would allow school nurses and designated personnel to give Quintin and others like him their cannabis-based medications.



The committee passed Quintin’s Amendment 9-4. It now moves to the full House.

The day their world changed



“Mommy, my eyes are bothering me,” Quintin told his mother, Hannah.

That was March 8, 2014, as Quintin fell to the ground in his first grand mal seizure, and the family’s battle with epilepsy began.

By 2017 he had full-blown Tourette Syndrome, complete with head bobbing and vocal tics.

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

“My new medicine makes me feel like I can really focus on baseball and school,” Quintin told the committee.

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 have to miss the mid-day dose because the family is large and they both work.

“If I could take my Haleigh’s Hope in the middle of the day maybe my seizures would go away. If I didn’t have seizures then I could live a more normal life like the other kids at school,” Quintin told the committee.

Super Hero

He looks normal, because he carries on like a “super hero,” Hannah said.

“What they didn’t see is my husband carrying Quintin up the stairs every morning because his legs refused to work, or emotional breakdowns that would cause him to cry inconsolably for hours,” Hannah told the committee Thursday. “It was nearly impossible to make it through the day without a breakdown. The first thing he did when I picked him up from school every day was break down and cry. My son was going downhill fast.”

Hannah said she understands some people’s concerns with the bill, but the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.

State Rep. Dylan Roberts, D-Eagle, introduced Quintin’s Amendment.

“The ability for school nurses to administer physician-recommended medical marijuana, just like all other medications, will mean that students will have guaranteed access to their medication during the school day and that parents do not have to take time off of work, drive across town, and pull their child out of the classroom to administer the medicine,” Roberts said.

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


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