The Colorado teen who fought to allow medical marijuana treatments in school, and won, passed away Wednesday.
Jack Splitt, 15, had quadriplegic cerebral palsy and dystonia, which caused “debilitating” muscle spasms, and often kept him out of school. Jack’s mother, Stacey Linn, said that medical marijuana helped curb the spasms and allowed her son to go to school and be “more engaged.”
Jack, whose family successfully petitioned lawmakers to allow for medical marijuana to be administered in school, passed away Wednesday from complications related to his chronic condition, The Denver Channel reported Thursday.
“Hundreds of people have been contacting me on Facebook, sending me messages,” Linn told The Denver Channel. “It’s evidence he touched so many lives.”
The law, named after Jack — Jack’s Law — said students who have a valid medical marijuana card can be given non-smokable marijuana on school grounds. It was signed into law by Colorado Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper in June.
“[M]edical marijuana allows them to go to school in a way that they’ve never been able to before,” Linn told local CBS Denver affiliate, CBS4, in June.
Linn also points out that an organization inspired by Jack, CannAbility Foundation, will keep providing help to other families in need. The website features two pictures of Jack. One of him snowed under the cocktail of drugs that showed “very little results,” and the other of him brightly smiling after taking the medical marijuana treatment, which had “increased effectiveness.”
“He dealt with the challenges of severe cerebral palsy and severe dystonia with grace, a sense of humor and an infectious smile,” a statement from Jack’s family stated on a GoFundMe page set up to help the family with funeral expenses. “Jack inspired all who knew him and he was the face of multiple Colorado legislative initiatives to allow medically fragile children to have safe access to cannabis medicine, particularly in schools.”
State Representative Jonathan Singer, who sponsored the bill and worked with Jack’s family, told The Denver Channel that because of Jack’s fight “kids will never have to choose between their medication and education.”
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