No policy yet for cannabis use at Loyalist College

By Brittany Woodcock

BELLEVILLE – With Canada’s legalization of marijuana less than a week away, Loyalist College is still working on a cannabis policy for the campus.

The college’s executive team is “reviewing aspects of our policies, so I can’t speak specifically to our position yet,” Valerie Peticca, Loyalist’s executive director of human resources, said in an email this week when QNet News asked for an interview about what policies the college would have in place, and how it would enforce them.

QNet also contacted other colleges in this region with the same question, and it seems Loyalist is not alone in not yet having a policy. A representative of the human resources department at Fleming College in Peterborough told QNet News that the department is not sure who’s working on that college’s policy.

Calls to St. Lawrence College in Kingston and Durham College in Oshawa were not returned before publication time.

According to a recent story in Huffington Post Canada, many universities and colleges across Canada already have cannabis policies set, but just as many are still working on them.

When QNet News tried speaking to Loyalist students about whether they plan to smoke pot on campus once it’s legal, and what they thought about the college not yet having a policy, the vast majority refused to comment.

Cody McLean, a film and television production student, said he uses cannabis for medical reasons and plans to smoke it on campus. As for there not yet being a college policy, McLean said: “That’s probably something they should have thought of before the day came. It’s not like they haven’t had notice. I would think they should” have a policy.

He added that he hopes the policy comes out soon so students know where they can smoke pot.

Chemical engineering technology student Andrew Lukezic said he smokes cannabis and plans to do so on campus, if the college allows it, once it becomes legal.

As for a policy, he said, “I feel like they should get on that – because if they want to enforce rules, you’ve got to set down some ground rules.”