How does smoking affect students on college campuses?: Programs and preventative measures that can help alleviate the issue

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In the time of '40s and '50s, cigarettes were one in the same with sex appeal and sophistication. Smokers could spark up just about anywhere. It wasn't until the 1960s when warnings against the dangers with reports linking cigarettes to cancer, heart disease and emphysema. Since then, we've come a long way in our understanding of smoking's health effects. It's now common knowledge that tobacco use can play a role in many other serious illnesses and health problems; not to mention how it directly or indirectly causes the death of hundreds of thousands each year. As a result, greater regulations have been placed on cigarettes, limiting their marketing, sale and use in a variety of ways. Why are smoking bans such a big deal on college campuses?

• Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.
• In the U. S., secondhand smoke kills about 53,000 nonsmokers per year.
• Exposure to second hand smoke raises the risk of lung cancer by 20-30% and heart disease by 30%.
• Many schools disallow smoking as part of a statewide clean air act.
• States have specific bans on smoking at colleges and universities.
• A growing number of schools are going entirely smoke-free.
• Others are banning all tobacco.
• Some states have very strict laws about smoking in student housing.
• Many schools are offering smoking cessation programs.

Smoking on college campus has remained at a steady rate despite the fact that the national average of smoking has declined a significant amount (Borders, pg. 1, 2005). What is the cause of the steady rate of smoking in schools? Could it be that colleges put too much restriction on where students smoke and how they purchase cigarettes on campus? Smoking cigarettes isn’t illegal for people 18 and older however colleges may put too much restriction on students and their right to smoke. Although smoking is one of the leading causes of cancer in America and is more harmful than beneficial, understanding the perspective of a student who smokes cigarettes would allow for a deeper understanding of why they smoke, where they smoke. In the article, College Campus Smoking Policies and Programs and Student’s Smoking Behaviors, by Tyrone Borders states that, while there are some indications that more stringent tobacco policies and greater availability of promotion and prevention programs reduce smoking rates on college campuses… More extensive regulatory policies could have a negative effect if they elicit a rebellious response from students (Borders, pg. 2, 2005).

Careful analysis of programs implemented to help students on campus who smoke instead of restricting students of smoking would benefit people on both sides of the issue. Listed below are the programs in Border’s study of 12 different college schools,                                                                                                                  

·       Seven of the 12 schools (58.3%) had a policy regarding tobacco distribution and prohibited smoking in residence halls.

·       Only 2 (16.7%) universities prohibited tobacco sales on campus and had restrictions on smoking to a minimum of 20 feet from entrances of buildings.

·       Five schools (41.7%) clearly identified non-smoking areas.

Five schools (41.7%) provided preventive education and four (33.3%) delivered smoking cessation courses (Borders, pg. 3, 2005). The percentages of college level schools that enact various smoking programs or take preventative measures against students that smoke on campus isn’t at its full potential. One of the most shocking parts of the data is that fact that only 7 of the 12 schools had policies that “prohibited smoking in residence halls”. The term residence halls most likely has to do with where students live. We believe colleges have smoking preventive measures as one of their lower priorities due to the lack of care taken, based from this data, to help lower the issue of smoking on college campus. Borders concludes that prevention-oriented education was associated with lower odds of current cigarette use. Students who were exposed to education about smoking were 23 percent less likely to smoke compared their counterparts who were not exposed to campus education (Borders, p. 5, 2005).    

The issue is not those people who smoke, but the people who run the higher administrative positions on college campus. If more focus was put on how can we “better fit” students who smoke instead of how can we “prevent” students who smoke from smoking then we believe it would improve the health of those who don’t smoke, as well as make those who smoke more aware of the negative health effects that are attributed to smoking. Many colleges have found a solution to these problems by adopting a tobacco-free campus policy. Adopting a similar policy at your college can eliminate the headaches of managing tobacco use and better position your campus, students and faculty for success. A tobacco-free policy helps ensure students,present and future, will have opportunities to succeed in a healthy and safe environment (Making Your College Campus Tobacco-Free, p. 1, 2008). Strategies to make these policies efficient include:

•  Students, faculty, staff and other key stakeholders in the process.

•  Creating opportunities for feedback, concerns and questions.

•  If data is not already available, consider conducting a survey and/or making visual observations to assess the level of secondhand smoke exposure.

Surveys can also help gauge student and staff support for policy change.

•  Promoting resources for those interested in quitting smoking or managing cravings while on campus.

Students who experience second hand smoke know that it impacts them daily on campus. Many schools have partially or totally smoke free environments, part of a statewide clean air acts. While other schools have specific bans at colleges and universities, a growing number of colleges have been going smoke free completely. Additionally some states have strict laws about smoking in student housing because usually the tobacco industry targets college students, some colleges are restricting marketing. If there are programs implemented to help students on campus who smoke instead of restricting smoking for students would benefit people from both sides of the issue. Furthermore The percentages of college level schools that put into place various smoking programs or take preventative measures against students that smoke on campus isn't at its full potential. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S, and the number of deaths is rising globally. With better policies put into place, rather than just preventing students from smoking, would better fit those students and could create a healthier environment for all.

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Bibliography

Borders, T. (2005). College campus smoking policies and programs and students' smoking behaviors. 1-6.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Tobacco use: Targeting the

nations’ leading killer. Tobacco-at a Glance 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2014

from http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/aag/pdf/2011/

Tobacco_AAG_2011_508.pdf

Harris, K., Stearns, J., Kovach, R., & Harrar, S. (2010). Enforcing an outdoor smoking ban on a college campus: effects of a multicomponent approach. Journal of American College Health, 121-126.

Making Tobacco Prevention a Priority on Campus. (2010, January 1). Retrieved November 6, 2014.PDF.

The University of Texas at El Paso. (2012). 2012/2013 Facts. Retrieved from http://universitycommunications.utep.edu/facts/index.html