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Algonquin College will go completely smoke-free following the Ontario government’s decision to allow marijuana to be consumed wherever tobacco is permitted.

College president Cheryl Jensen announced last week college-wide consultations about “moving toward smoke-free campuses” at the college’s three campuses in Ottawa, Perth and Pembroke.

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Those consultations will launch soon, Jensen said, but in the interim the college is banning smoking of all kinds on campus.

“We believe this is the right thing to do for our employees and our students,” Jensen said in a statement posted to the college website.

The college will be smoke-free under an interim policy from Oct. 15, 2018 until Jan. 1, 2019 while the college conducts “full consultations to understand the potential impact and develop a permanent policy.”

Algonquin becomes the first area post-secondary institution to ban tobacco as well as marijuana smoking on campus.

“We also understand that this is an adjustment and so we are taking a lighter approach to enforcement during this interim period,” said Jensen, adding administrators “will be relying in part on the goodwill of our college community.”

Jensen said for those with prescriptions for medical marijuana, the college “will uphold the status quo during the interim period.”

The college established a separate website at algonquincollege.com/smokefree, which includes the new policy, information on the next steps the college will take, and links to smoking cessation resources.