Smoking on College Campuses

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The days of smoking on college campuses is coming to an end! (Daneman) The Department of Health and Human Services made an announcement, backed by the White house, to act on getting colleges everywhere to enforce a tobacco free campus! (Daneman) Smoking is a choice made amongst an individual and falls within the first amendment in the constitution along with eight more! So how can we legally ban smoking from a whole college campus? In the end, the individual is going to do what he/she pleases if there is no enforcement. Smoking should be banned from college campus, except where there is a designated smoking area away from others on the campus!
Smoking is the use of tobacco or nicotine. Tobacco is made up of more than 70 plant species within the genus nicotiana of the solanaceae family. (“Tobacco”) Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 different chemicals and at least 69 are a cause of cancer! (“Secondhand”) Tobacco use is the most preventable cause for disease, disability, and death! (“Department”) Smoking causes more deaths than car accidents, drug abuse, AIDS, and homicides combined. (“Department”) Did you know? Tobacco is the cause for nearly one in three cancer deaths! (“How”) The most common form of cancer received from the use of tobacco is lung cancer but smoking can also lead to cancers in the mouth, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, kidney, brain, pancreas and many more! (“How”) Smoking worsens the blood flow in the arms and legs!
Women and men can have different things affected from the use of tobacco. Women who smoke have a higher risk of heart disease! (“How”) Although most of the women who die from heart disease are post menopause, the risk is higher in younger women especially if you are taking birth control pills. (“Ho...

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... stating the health facts on smoking and to those around them to simply “this is a smoke free campus”. This lets the students know that someone may care enough about their life to let them know how dangerous smoking is for others and themselves.
Colleges can claim to be a “smoke free campus”, but if it is not enforced does it still make it a smoke free campus? In order to have a smoke free campus you need to enforce it! A lot of this has to do with convenience; nobody wants to do something if it is out of the way, inconvenient for them. If there is no one enforcing a ban on smoking in these areas, what is going to stop them from smoking? Students and faculty that enrolled or became employed were expecting a smoke free school are being exposed to secondhand smoke! “A 100 percent smoking ban has to stand tall, otherwise it is powerless” said Jack Tuthill. (Tuthill)

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