University and college campuses in Prince George are treating cannabis much like alcohol on school grounds.
Both CNC and UNBC won’t be allowing consumption of the substance on campus, however, they will be in line with provincial possession regulations, which say BC residents can carry up to 30 grams of recreational cannabis in public and possess 1,000 grams at home.
Both schools wanted to emphasize safety in their policy considerations.
“The new policy speaks to intoxication and how we as an employer are obligated under our occupational health and safety to ensure our employees and our students are safe from any potential injury,” said Henry Reiser, President of CNC.
“The message is that impairment may lead to potential injury and we would not want to see our employer group or our student group get injured at CNC,” said Reiser.
Barb Daigle, Associate Vice President of People and Risk for UNBC, say the seven designated smoking areas on campus are not going to allow cannabis consumption and students in residence will also not be permitted to grow.
She says they still haven’t ironed out the details on those with a documented medical need for marijuana, but when that need arises they will “work with” the individual student. No students have yet come forward.
“We’d really expect some of this to evolve over the next year. I like to say the future is still hazy. We’re approaching this as we would any other health and safety issue, we’re committed to providing safe and healthy work and learning environments for everyone on our campus.”