Colorado Senator Claims Preschoolers Bring Backpacks of Weed to Class

Children as young as three and four years old are showing up at preschool with backpacks full of weed in Colorado. At least, that's what a state senator says.

During a hearing for House Bill 25-1209 on April 24, three senators voiced objections to the bill, which proposes a handful of licensing and regulatory changes to recreational marijuana. Two of those senators, Judy Amabile and Cleave Simpson, cited youth usage and opposition from state marijuana regulators as reasons behind their "no" votes.

Then Senator Scott Bright took the podium. Bright, a Republican who owns a network of nearly thirty preschools in northern Colorado, also cited youth usage as his main concern, but his speech had an extra layer of alarmism.

"I work in the preschool world, and I see kids three and four years old coming in with copious amounts of marijuana in their backpacks," he said before the bill's second vote on the state Senate floor. "I'm not saying they put it there. I'm saying their parents probably did, um, for whatever reason. And that’s just not safe."

The senator from Weld County didn't offer any more details on the alleged incidents, and his colleagues didn't seem very moved. The bill passed its second reading and cleared a third and final Senate vote today, April 25, by a 25-10 margin. If the House approves of a handful of technical amendments, the bill will head to Governor Jared Polis, who is expected to sign the measure.

Emergency calls concerning accidental ingestion of marijuana at home increased after recreational legalization, but we couldn't find any reports of toddlers arriving at Colorado preschools with backpacks full of marijuana — although there was one such report from Buffalo in 2019, and in 2017 a man showed up at a Denver emergency room with a trash bag full of low-grade marijuana.

Bright's Senate office and campaign email address haven't responded to requests for comment, nor have ABC Child Development Centers and Bright School-Age Centers, which list Bright as the owner on their website.