Should Smoking Be Banned on All College Campuses?

by Lexi Petronis, Glamour

Right now, more than 1,000 university campuses across the country have banned smoking from anywhere on college grounds--with more signing on in the next few years. (In fact, some experts expect that college campuses will be entirely tobacco-free in the next 20 years.)

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And honestly, I was momentarily surprised that more campuses aren't tobacco-free--mostly because it seems like there aren't that many places that still do allow smoking, you know what I mean?

The first universities started going tobacco-free in 2003; according to the Centers for Disease for Control and Prevention, the prevalence of smoking has gone from 24.4 percent to 18.9 percent in people aged 18-25 just during the 2005-2011 time period. Obviously, you can't say one is because of the other. Still, according to Ty Patterson, director of the Center of Excellence for Tobacco-Free Campus Policy, the overall goal is to help students have overall better health. And he says there's less pushback when you clear smoking from the environment, as opposed to students' own personal lives: "It's easier to implement the policy with not trying to tell them to quit. If we decide we want to make our space more respectful of our people and environment, there is less opposition."

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Less opposition. There are still many against smoke-free campuses, saying that smoking is a legal activity for those over 18 (as most college students are). And as more smoking bans are established all around the countries, people are concerned about the constitutionality of the act.

But what do you think? Should tobacco be banned completely on university campuses?

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