The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) is hosting a Substance Use Awareness Week from Nov. 19-23.
Lily Akagbosu, CUSA’s vice-president (student issues) who is spearheading the event, said the week is especially important given the recent legalization of cannabis in Canada.
“With the legalization of marijuana and the new laws surrounding the use, it was important that we highlighted it this year,” she said. “The week will be focusing on cannabis use specifically, and we will ensure that throughout the week students are engaged in the topic.”
“Our key messages include that students need to know how cannabis affects them individually—they need to know that if they do use it, they need to use it responsibly, and they need to use it legally,” she added.
According to Akagbosu, Substance Use Awareness Week is predominantly an online campaign, and one of the main ways that students can participate is through an online campaign contest launching on Nov. 19.
“I’m experimenting with an online campaign because I know that in the past few weeks, most of the campaigns have had lots of input in programming—but due to the sensitivity of this topic and also just to see what online engagement might be if we entirely focus on that—we thought this might be a good opportunity to try out a campaign that is run online completely,” she said.
“Every day in the Atrium, we will still have students and volunteers tabling to share resources and materials from our community partners, but the emphasis is on the online aspect of this campaign,” she added.
“We’ll be putting out content regarding cannabis use and substance use in general, and students will have a chance to participate in the contest.”
CUSA president David Oladejo said the purpose of the week is to educate students on campus.
“We’re looking at a couple of different workshops we can run, focusing on harm reduction, talking about what to expect when using cannabis, how to stay safe when using it,” he said. “We don’t want to finger-wag at anyone, or tell anyone don’t use this or use this—it’s about, if you’re using this, what to expect and to look out for.”
Melina Inannilucio, a first-year economics student, said it’s important to discuss substance use on campus in the wake of cannabis legalization.
“I do feel with legalization of marijuana, it would be not more prominent on campus—but kids would try to use it more, so being more aware of it would obviously be more beneficial,” she said.
According to Inannilucio, students need to be educated about the consumption and effects of other illicit substances as well.
“I feel like all throughout high school, we were always taught that in health class, so people definitely have a background knowledge about other drugs,” she said. “But, reiterating it wouldn’t be a bad thing just because they are there, and people do use them.”
“Just knowing the effects of them will always be helpful, no matter if they’ve already known it from years past,” she added.
Favour Diokpo, a third-year design engineering student, also said education on the use of cannabis is important in the wake of legalization.
“Most people don’t really know that marijuana can be laced, and you shouldn’t just get it from anyone or anywhere,” she added.
“I feel like some people are going to abuse the fact that it’s been legalized. They were doing it anyway, but now that it’s legalized, it’s like they have a right to do it,” she said.
“People need to be aware that—just in some situations—you shouldn’t abuse the fact that you’ve been given the rights to do it.”
Photo by Spencer Colby
