Federal mental health grants canceled because Maine has legal marijuana

Because Maine allows the medical use of marijuana by students, the federal government is cutting off $3.3 million in already approved funding to support mental health programs for youngsters.

It isn’t clear whether the new federal policy may impact other grants received by the state.

The state won a five-year federal grant in 2018 that provided $1.1 million annually for a program called Maine-AWARE to assist in bolstering the social service infrastructure to support student mental health in three districts across the state.

Maine received the money for the first two yfeears, but recently learned it won’t get any more due to a policy change in Washington that cuts off states that allow students access to medical marijuana.

Pender Makin, the state commissioner of education, said in a May 6 email to a local superintendent that “a new requirement” on the federal level cut off the funding in its third year “because of our state’s medical marijuana law, which requires schools to allow students who have written certification from their medical provider indicating their need for medical marijuana to receive such treatment while at school.” [Read more at Sun Journal]