I’m walking to class through Red Square, surrounded by a mob of people. From out of nowhere, I smell it; the very distinct, thick and heavy smell of cigarette smoke. I continue walking, attempting to ignore the stench. I see puffs of smoke floating up into the air; the smoke is coming from the person walking directly in front of me.

I dodge left, I dodge right. I speed up, I slow down. Nothing I can do gets me out of the path of that smoke cloud. I know it’s this person’s choice to smoke, but I can’t choose to stop breathing or walk slower and end up late to class.

I choose not to smoke and avoid it at all costs, but when I get trapped behind someone with a cigarette, I can’t exactly shut down my lungs.

The threats associated with smoking cigarettes and the danger of secondhand smoke are common knowledge.

On Nov. 8, 2005 Washington state passed Initiative 901, which prohibits smoking in public places and workplaces.

Included in the initiative was the 25-foot rule, which states a person can not smoke within 25 feet of a public building or work place.

If a cigarette didn’t leave a huge cancerous smoke cloud behind, I don’t think this would be such an issue. Thirty minutes of exposure to secondhand smoke can cause the same sort of heart damage in nonsmokers as regular smokers, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention.  

Approximately 50,000 people die each year from secondhand smoke; 3,400 from lung cancer and 46,000 from heart disease in nonsmoking adults, according to the American Lung Association Web site.

This is why I think Western should become a smoke-free campus. Surprisingly enough, both the University of Washington and Washington State University are smoke-free campuses. If schools almost twice and three times our size are enforcing strict smoking rules, we can too.

In consideration of students who choose to smoke, the University of Washington has designated smoking areas that were chosen by the director of Environmental Health and Safety, according to the University of Washington Environmental Health and Safety Web site.

I think that’s a great way to accommodate everyone’s needs. Make designated smoking areas that are away from buildings, windows and busy pathways.

I’m tired of walking around campus and having to hold my breath because someone near me is smoking. Smoking is something that affects not only the person doing the act but everyone around them. It is no longer a private issue but a public concern. Smoking is something that inadvertently causes harm to the general public.

We need to take this leap and make Western a smoke-free campus. Think about all the times you have been trapped behind someone smoking a cigarette or waiting for your bus to come with someone smoking next to you and there was nothing you could do.

Think about how nice it would be to be able to anticipate and avoid areas where smokers congregate to light up.

Link:

(pdf) No Smoke.org, list of smoke-free colleges

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