According to Greg Aulenback, Carleton’s strategic initiatives manager, the university has updated its alcohol and tobacco smoking policies to reflect this year’s incoming federal legalization of recreational marijuana.
While Carleton should be applauded for its efforts to regulate the use of marijuana on campus, lumping together policies related to alcohol and tobacco with cannabis is concerning—they are different substances and should be treated differently.
Alcohol is primarily consumed through drinking, and tobacco through smoking, but marijuana can be consumed by smoking, vaping or consuming food infused with cannabis.
Also, the effects of marijuana are dissimilar to the effects of alcohol and tobacco. Another significant difference is that cannabis can be consumed for health purposes, such as the treatment of mental health issues.
In Carleton’s new Alcohol and Cannabis Use Policy, the university states, “Persons shall not utilize the kitchen or cooking facilities to create edibles that include cannabis.” This is the only mention of edibles in cannabis policy currently publicized by Carleton—and it too is an outright ban. An April 2018 survey done by Statistics Canada earlier this year found that edibles are the second-most commonly consumed marijuana product.
By simply banning and merely mentioning a large part of how cannabis is consumed, the university does not apply the details of how this drug needs to be regulated to its on-campus marijuana use policy.
Carleton should introduce a separate policy for the consumption of marijuana on campus that takes into consideration how cannabis consumption is significantly different than tobacco and alcohol.
