Carleton administration may update its cannabis policies due to a new Ontario legislation that would allow people to smoke marijuana recreationally anywhere tobacco can be smoked.
The potential changes come in the wake of amendments to the Smoke-Free Ontario Act which previously only had laws related to tobacco use, but has since been updated to reflect new laws related to marijuana.
Currently, students over the age of 19 will be able to possess 30 grams of dried cannabis, but will not be allowed to consume, grow, or have cannabis delivered in any form on campus.
Suzanne Blanchard, Carleton’s vice-president (students and enrolment), said changes may come to the current campus policies as a result of the new provincial legislation.
“What we’re doing right now, is looking at the legislation that has been tabled and seeing if there’s any impact that will have on any of our policies or not,” Blanchard said. “It will be a very short time frame for any changes to happen, but we’ll have to see exactly what we have to do in the interim. It may not change any of our policies, but right now, we’re in the process of looking at all the legislations to see what that means.”
Carleton’s president and vice-chancellor Benoit-Antoine Bacon said updating the university’s cannabis policies is an ongoing process.
“It’s a bit like the sexual violence policy— once you live through it, you may want to adjust in time,” Bacon said. “The important point is a collaboration between the four institutions in Ottawa to make sure we’re aligned, and that the issue is treated in the same way across all campuses.”
Blanchard said the university is taking a harm-reduction approach to the use of recreational marijuana on campus by educating students and creating more awareness about its usage.
“It’s really kind of this city-wide harm reductions approach,” she said. “In terms of the things that students need to be aware of, some maybe miss or don’t understand or things to be really more conscious about, that’s something we’ll continue in our communication plan.”
Filza Siddiqui, a first-year neuroscience student, said she thinks less strict cannabis campus policies might mean more students would consume recreationally.
“More people may be inclined to do it, especially first-years,” Siddiqui said. “Students will be tempted if everyone has it so freely.”
Carleton has set up a webpage by Student Affairs that highlights updated cannabis policies and shares literature related for the responsible use of marijuana as part of the administration’s harm-reductions approach.
The recreational use of marijuana will be federally legalized on Oct. 17.
—With files from Temur Durrani and Meral Jamal
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