THUNDER BAY - With marijuana becoming legal across Canada on Oct. 17, post-secondary institutions are preparing for how they will handle people using or possessing pot on campus. Students at Confederation College can expect the rules surrounding cannabis to feel very familiar.
A committee at Confederation College made up of managers, staff, and students has been working to draft a marijuana policy for the Thunder Bay campus. Mike Rozic, senior manager of public safety and risk management at Confederation College, said the cannabis policy will be very similar to the college’s policy involving alcohol.
“Basically, it won’t be allowed in public areas,” he said. “You won’t be able to smoke in the smoking area. If there is a medicinal licence we will be looking at it on a case by case basis, but recreational cannabis use won’t be allowed on campus.”
Students living in residence can expect a similar policy to be in place. Residence at Confederation College is managed by a third party, Campus Living Centres, and Rozic said he expects their cannabis policy will shadow the college’s policy.
“In the residence already, you are not allowed to smoke, so there won’t be any cannabis use allowed in residence,” he said.
Drinking is permitted in residence and the committee is still looking at how it will deal with edibles on campus and whether or not it will be permitted.
“It’s going to be an evolving policy to get the point where we want to be with it and it will probably change as time goes,” Rozic said.
Another issue that still need to be worked out by the committee is whether or not students will be allowed to be in possession of marijuana on campus.
“We haven’t come to a 100 per cent decision regarding that,” Rozic said. “We are hoping by that date of legalization we will have something in place. At this time we are still looking at that.”
While developing the policy, Rozic said Confederation College reached out to other post-second institutions for guidance. Some colleges and universities are going completely smoke free, but Rozic said that is not something the college is looking into at this time.
“We are kind of different than a lot of the colleges in say southern Ontario,” Rozic said. “We are northern. I just think at this time it wasn’t the right time for us to consider that. I know Lakehead University had looked at that previously and as far as I know, I don’t think it really worked for them.”
Lakehead University was contacted regarding their policy on cannabis use on campus and a spokesperson said they do not have anyone to speak to that issue at this time.
