diff --git a/core/templates/core/markdown_textarea.jinja b/core/templates/core/markdown_textarea.jinja
index 495a1c61..5efaf0d3 100644
--- a/core/templates/core/markdown_textarea.jinja
+++ b/core/templates/core/markdown_textarea.jinja
@@ -15,23 +15,22 @@
 		// You can't get the csrf token from the template in a widget
 		// We get it from a cookie as a workaround, see this link
 		// https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/ref/csrf/#ajax
-		function getCookie(name) {
-			var cookieValue = null;
-			if (document.cookie && document.cookie !== '') {
-				var cookies = document.cookie.split(';');
-				for (var i = 0; i < cookies.length; i++) {
-					var cookie = jQuery.trim(cookies[i]);
-					// Does this cookie string begin with the name we want?
-					if (cookie.substring(0, name.length + 1) === (name + '=')) {
-						cookieValue = decodeURIComponent(cookie.substring(name.length + 1));
-						break;
-					}
+		function getCookie(cname) {
+			var name = cname + "=";
+			var decodedCookie = decodeURIComponent(document.cookie);
+			var ca = decodedCookie.split(';');
+			for(var i = 0; i <ca.length; i++) {
+				var c = ca[i];
+				while (c.charAt(0) == ' ') {
+					c = c.substring(1);
+				}
+				if (c.indexOf(name) == 0) {
+					return c.substring(name.length, c.length);
 				}
 			}
-			return cookieValue;
+			return "";
 		}
 
-
 		// Custom markdown parser
 		function customMarkdownParser(plainText, preview) {
 			// Wait for jquery to load