More confusion arose between Arizona state agencies and marijuana this week as the Arizona Department of Child Services updated its policy concerning CBD extracts.
Since 2011, the DCS has had a policy in place barring marijuana users from becoming foster parents. This week, however, they've made an exception for those who use CBD extracts with one caveat: The products mustn't come from an Arizona-regulated retailer.
This issue grew out of a Phoenix lawyer's foster application for a 16-year-old boy she had taken in. Rebecca Masterson applied for a foster-care license in September, which would provide a stipend to help alleviate the costs of raising the boy. However, the DCS denied her application based on the presence of CBD extracts in her home.
Masterson herself doesn't use marijuana in any way. She uses the CBD to help treat her 12-year-old son's violent "tics," as she refers to them on her blog. Even though Masterson doesn't use CBD herself, and CBD does not produce the high associated with THC in marijuana, the DCS still determined she wasn't eligible for the stipend.
Masterson cancelled her caregiver certification, opting to purchase the CBD extracts from sources outside the state. But the federal Drug Enforcement Agency still declares CBD to fall under Schedule I, meaning products not obtained through state-regulated retailers are at risk of enforcement.
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