Maine Loses Federal Grant Money Over Medical Marijuana Laws for Students
- Author: Kelly Cooke
- Posted: 2023-11-21
The Federal Government Can Attach Conditions or Restrictions to Grants
The federal government is allowed to condition grants on certain requirements or may cut them under various circumstances. The government instituted a new requirement in year three of this grant program that resulted in the cutoff of assistance.
The specific program funded by the federal government is called Maine-AWARE. It funds mental health programs in three school districts in the state. The program has been successful for the two years of its existence. The state won the award back in 2018, and it was supposed to last for five years. However, federal regulations allow for the termination of grants at any point during the term of the grant.
Maine law allows students to use medical marijuana if they have a prescription to do so. Thus, Maine claims that it has no choice but to permit this. Students in the state can visit a doctor and receive a prescription for medical marijuana. They are able to use marijuana while attending school if they take it in a non-smokable form.
In the past, the grant paperwork contained no language that had any restrictions on the use of grant funds for medical marijuana. However, in 2020, this language appeared in the grant application for the first time. In addition, to restricting the use of federal funds for marijuana treatment, the grant application also said that grant funds would not be available at all to states that allow the use of marijuana among students.
Accordingly, the Department of Health and Human Services cut off Maine's funding. HHS informed Maine of this decision in early May.
Maine Is in Particular Need of this Federal Grant Money
For Maine, the loss of grant funding is a blow as the state needs the money to treat mental health issues in teenagers. The impact will be felt even more right now as the COVID-19 pandemic has raised stress levels in the entire population. This was on top of an already high level of mental health issues in teenagers in the state. In fact, Maine has the highest rate of depression in teenagers in the country. In addition, the state also has high numbers of teenagers with attention deficit disorder and anxiety.
One in four Maine children between the age of 6 to 17 has been diagnosed with one of these conditions. Even before the cutoff in federal aid, nearly half of the children in the state who needed treatment were not able to receive it. Maine's elected officials noted the impact that the funding cutoff would have on children during this difficult time. It is unclear whether the Maine-AWARE program would be able to survive without the necessary federal funding.
This policy is likely to affect more than just Maine. The state is one of a dozen with laws on their books that allow the use of medical marijuana in students. The roster of states with this law includes Colorado, Illinois and New Jersey. Presumably, these states would not be allowed to participate in the federal program as well.
However, other states have laws that leave it up to the individual school district to decide whether students can use medical marijuana. Those states should not run afoul of HHS' grant restrictions and should be able to still receive their money.
In general, while states are taking steps to legalize the use of marijuana, both for recreational and medicinal use, the federal government is moving in a different direction. Numerous grant programs have contained restrictions on the use of federal money or have made the programs off-limits to states with certain cannabis laws. For the states, the decisions of the federal government are final in this area, and the government can generally do what it wants so long as it is not exercising undue coercion to get the state to change its laws at the direction of the federal government.
