An Argument Against Smoking at School Campuses

I can always expect one thing to happen while I'm at CBC. Whatever I'm doing, whether it be walking to my classes or simply hanging out with some friends, as long as it involves being outside I know that I will unavoidably be breathing in smoke while doing so. Smoking on campus is everywhere. It's right in front of me or next to me while I'm walking, constantly catching me in clouds of eye stinging and lung damaging smoke. It's also within fifty feet of the signs that declare the prohibition of smoking within fifty feet of said signs.

I've been informed by fellow students of nonchalant professors who will disregard their classes to stop teaching and take smoking breaks instead. Clearly, smoking is a major issue facing this school that is adversely affecting both the health and education of those here. CBC should implement a smoking ban that prohibits the use of cigarettes campus wide.

One particular problem that such widespread smoking on campus presents is second hand smoke.

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Many students complain about the smoke in the air being annoying, but far more harmful than that its irksome qualities is the consequences it has on their health. Second hand smoke, the smoke in the air inhaled by the nonsmokers around a cigarette user, is potentially just as harmful for people as directly smoking is. In a scholarly journal by Jing Sun of Griffith University's School of Public Health, he writes that a recent study by the World Health Organization "estimated that smoking will kill approximately one billion people in the twenty first century".

The many health problems and the fact that possibly death that can be caused by smoking are well known and common knowledge at that. However, these disastrous effects are not limited to smokers alone and extend to those exposed to second hand smoke as well. Other major studies have affirmed that second hand smoke is also cause of health problems and even death in people of all ages (par. 3). Someone who is smoking harms not only themselves but everyone around them.

Banning smoking throughout campus would create a healthier environment for all. Not only would it prevent nonsmokers from being exposed to the excessive amounts of smoke they're currently facing, but it could have long lasting beneficial effects on smokers as well. Studies done at universities with smoke free policies have shown that such policies can encourage smokers to smoke significantly less or even quit; as evidenced in the U.S. News & World Report article titled "Campus Smoking Bans May Help College Students Quit", which says that "during the two-year study period smoking dropped by nearly four percent . . . students who continued to smoke went on to smoke fewer cigarettes per day" (par. 10-11).

That is a promising change that benefits the health of everyone involved. This goes to show that campus wide smoking bans not only lessen exposure to second hand smoke, but are effective at encouraging people to quit and seek help for their addictions. They have even proven effective at reducing the number of those in the student body who smoke.

With that being said, it may be argued that a simpler response to this issue of smoking on CBC campus that could appease both smokers and non smokers alike would be to more strictly enforce the policy already in place. The current rule is that smoking is not allowed within fifty feet of building entrances. As a student here since September of 2012 who has also discussed this observation with many other students, I can safely say that that smoking regulation is rarely followed, if at all. But maybe if it was enforced, then perhaps that would make smoking less of a problem than it is now. Smoking would still be present but more manageable.

However, regardless of whether the no smoking within fifty feet of building entrances rule is always followed or never followed, smoking will still clutter the lawns and walkways allover campus. Smoke will still be unavoidable, just more condensed to farther away from building entrances. Not only does smoke pollute the air, but it's also harmful to the countless non-smokers who are inhaling it. In an article by Jenna Johnson of The Washington Post, she quotes Julien Guttman, a public health graduate of GWU, who maintains that "the CDC [Center for Disease Control] and surgeon general say there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke" (par. 4).

Essentially, no matter how far away someone is from someone else who is smoking, it is still a major health hazard. People who don't smoke should not have to be exposed to it every time they go to school, a place where their well being should be safeguarded rather than endangered. Yet they are rampantly being exposed to it while on CBC's campus. With a campus wide ban rather than simply boundaries in place, then people would still be able to smoke if they choose to, just elsewhere, and those who don't smoke will not have to be exposed to secondhand smoke at CBC.

Perhaps the most common opposition to a no smoking policy is the argument that smokers have the "right" to smoke. In the same article from The Washington Post mentioned above, Julien Guttman also says that "no matter how much science we have to back up what we are saying, there will always be individuals who see this as a restriction on their freedom" (qtd. in par. 4). A campus wide smoking ban could be infringing on their freedom due to the fact that smoking cigarettes is legal.

However, the sense of the word freedom here must be defined. The freedom that smokers do have is the freedom to smoke. But where they smoke is subject to other factors, and policies restricting them from smoking at places such as restaurants, parks, and college campuses are policies that should be respected for the health of thousands of other people on the campus who must be taken into consideration. As health educator with Student Health Services at MSUB Darla Tyler-McSherry says in an article from The Billings Gazette, “There is no right to smoke. There is a desire to smoke. We aren't you saying you can't smoke, just that you can't smoke on campus" (qtd. in par. 19). There is no freedom being infringed on with a campus wide smoking ban. Anyone who smokes can still smoke as often or as little as they please, just not while they're on campus.

There are many ways that the ban could be maintained, encouraged, and enforced, should CBC implement it. Educating students and raising awareness of the negative aspects of tobacco use and its consequences is a must. This could be done via ways accessible to students such as outreach through the internet and social media, posters, flyers, and advertisements. Counseling and programs that help smokers quit could also be advertised and offered for free or at reduced prices for students. According to an article from The Herald - Everett, at Everett Community College there is a twenty dollar fine for each violation of the policy. CBC could also consider such a citation.

However, that may not be necessary. In an article from The Christian Science Monitor titled "Smoking Bans: Tobacco-free College Campuses on Rise in US", author Kimberly Railey writes that at many colleges with a smoking ban "violations yield light, if any, punitive action. Repeat offenders sometimes face university disciplinary measures, which differ among schools. Enforcement is usually not heavy-handed, either. It mostly comes from the students themselves, many of whom just don't want to be around cigarette smoke" (par. 21-22). At the University of Kentucky in Lexington, members of a Tobacco-free Take Action volunteer group made up of faculty and students alike will ask smokers to put out their cigarettes and offer resources to help them (par. 23).

Those are the kind of active measures needed to make a ban successful. Such measures would not be difficult to initiate at CBC. A campus wide smoking ban is likely to receive sufficient public support. For every person that I personally see smoking, there are several more students I talk to who heartedly agree with any complaints I voice and often chip in with an abundance of their own. Most students here know what it's like to be gasping for air on the way to class and to worry that their clothes are carrying the smell of cigarettes.

The ball has already started rolling. CBC needs to join in this newly emerging, but rapidly growing health revolution for the sake of everyone here. It won't continue to grow unless everyone is responsible and steps in. No matter how small CBC may be, every step taken towards a better environment for its students and staff is a step towards a better environment for the entire world. In an article from The Christian Science Monitor, Assistant Secretary for Health of the US Department of Human Health and Services maintains that smoking bans "[set] the smoke-free and tobacco-free campus as the social norm in our society" (qtd. in par. 11). By implementing smoking bans, college campuses are changing our very culture to be healthier for everyone. Change is contagious. CBC has the power to be a part of that change and make it a change for the better.