Carleton students think 30 per cent of students smoke marijuana frequently, when in fact it is only four per cent, according to the eToke survey and the 2012 National College Health Assessment.
Marijuana is the most commonly consumed illegal drug in Canada, with the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH) reporting 8.3 per cent of people aged 18-29 in Ontario use marijuana weekly or daily. According to the CAMH, 17 per cent of post-secondary students in Canada use marijuana monthly, and six per cent use it daily.
Mark Hargreaves, the community liaison officer with Carleton Campus Safety, said drugs are involved in one in 10 calls on campus.
“Last year between September 2014 to April 2015 drugs were involved with about 12 per cent of the calls that we dealt with, and this year from September to October 2015 drugs have been involved in about 10 per cent of calls,” he said. “In terms of marijuana use specifically, we identify it more in the colder months when people are not using it outside due to the temperature and weather.”
Hargreaves said alcohol is involved in 12 per cent of calls that Campus Safety responded to last year. “If we look at the survey, four per cent uses marijuana frequently,” he said. “So that means that four per cent can have a large impact on the rest of the community in terms of odour and living in that area.”
Ryan Flannagan, Carleton’s director of student affairs, said Carleton’s marijuana usage statistics are in line with the Canadian average for all post-secondary institutions who participated in the 2012 survey. He said Carleton has started a new campaign to educate students about marijuana use this year.
“In the coming years we will be providing information to students on the topic of marijuana in an effort to help students become more knowledgeable about this substance and the impacts it can have. We want students to be more informed on marijuana in the event they are choosing to smoke it recreationally.”
Students often think cannabis is less harmful than tobacco or alcohol, but Kim Hellemans, a Carleton neuroscience professor specializing in addictions, said cannabinoids are not as harmless as they seem.
“There is a culture of marijuana abuse in particular because students tend to feel like it is harmless, or less harmful than alcohol,” she said. “There is also this disbelief that it can be addictive . . . I’ve had students informally talk about their struggles with marijuana addiction. I have polled students anonymously about off-label stimulant use and probably between four and 10 per cent who were polled had used them.”
She said she thinks that students are self-medicating with substances due to increased anxiety. She said she does not believe that university is more difficult now than before, but that students are under more pressure.
“[Marijuana] makes you have that enhanced sense of well-being . . . One of their coping mechanisms is to use cannabinoids or cannabis-like substances,” she said. “I think the pressures on students compared to my generation are different . . . I think students are coming in less prepared for university, they are under increased financial pressure.”
Joseph, a Carleton student who said he uses marijuana about three times per week and does not want to be identified, said he is not surprised that only four per cent of Carleton students smoke frequently.
“That number seems about right, not many of the people I hang out with are big smokers,” he said. “I think it is less of a habitual thing for people and more of a [vice]. When you drink alcohol you get revved up, you get out of control, the worst thing that is going to happen when you smoke weed is you lie back on the couch, turn on the TV, and hang out. You’re not doing any harm to anyone else.”
He said he agrees with Hellemans that students are using substances to self-medicate for anxiety or other mental health issues.
“Alcohol is an escape, it helps you forget. I think that marijuana is probably better for helping you cope,” he said. “I think there’s more pressure on students to smoke marijuana because it is the cool thing to do.”
