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Keegan Ried

S. Kitten

English 1301-053

1 November 2010

Igniting a Smoking Ban

Many people agree that smoking is a disgusting and nasty habit. Jeff Larsen, and Lee

Cohen, both well known professors at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, found that over

430,000 Americans die preventable deaths due to smoking related illnesses each year (1). Those

illnesses are also caused by secondhand smoke. Secondhand cigarette smoke fills many

restaurants and public places that nonsmokers must visit on a daily basis. Amarillo College is a

good example of a public place where nonsmokers are subjected to destructive cigarette smoke.

Many students, at Amarillo College, have found themselves addicted to smoking cigarettes

which, in turn, forces other students into situations where secondhand smoke becomes a real risk.

Smoking is a self-destructive practice that many more students and faculty find repulsive and

detestable; those students and faculty are now pushing Amarillo College to institute a campus

wide smoking ban. As a community leader, Amarillo College has a responsibility to ban

smoking, not only within the college buildings but also anywhere on college grounds.

A smoking ban at Amarillo College shows college-wide support for the "Tobacco Free

Amarillo" initiative. The "Tobacco Free Amarillo" or TFA initiative is pushing to systematically

wipe out smoking from all public places in Amarillo. Amarillo College and TFA can work

hand-in-hand to cease tobacco use by current students and future students. By placing a ban on

smoking, Amarillo College shows its support for a smokeless environment. In Amarillo, the city

wide smoking ban proposition has failed often because there is not enough nonsmoker support
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when it comes time to vote at the polls. The city needs community leaders to step up and support

the nonsmoking citizens by placing self-induced smoking bans, thereby showing citizens who

have not yet voted how wonderful a smokeless public environment can be. Supporting TFA,

Amarillo College can be a leader in its community, and spur voters to approve a city wide

smoking ban.

To create a better college experience, Amarillo College must ban all use of tobacco

products on college property. Amarillo College should stop subjecting students to the physical

and mental abuse associated with public smoking. Secondhand smoke threatens the lives of

countless young people each year. Dr. J. Muttappallymyalil, a respected, and highly esteemed

doctor at Jayakumary Gulf Medical University, stated that Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS)

can cause cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and an

impairment of lung function (1). Muttappallymyalil also states that ETS has "grave adverse

health effects" on the general population, and not just those people who smoke on a regular

basis. Therefore, students who pass through the smoke of another are at risk for many health

problems. When students get sick, they miss classes and learning opportunities. Marcus Credé,

an assistant professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Albany, showed that

attendance has strong relationships between both class grades and overall GPA (2). Students'

GPA's and morale are greatly reduced because of the absences due to public smoking-related

illness. When one persons action causes such a decline in another persons attitude and

happiness, most people associate that action with mental abuse. Secondhand smoking is one

mentally abusive action. Those students who smoke are actively disrespecting the lives of the

other students around them. This lack of respect for the welfare of other students causes a

negative reaction in the minds of the nonsmokers. When a students smell lit cigarettes, they
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immediately feel anger toward the origin of the smoke. Nonsmoker's attitudes are greatly

affected by the presence of secondhand smoke. Amarillo College can avoid the ill affects of

cigarette smoke by eradicating it entirely.

Amarillo College's ban would inherently support the efforts of many students to quit

smoking. Eileen Clark and Terence V. McCann found a strong relationship between the ability of

students to quit smoking, and the amount of support they received from their peers. Clark and

McCann stated "Most of the smokers wanted to quit, and many had tried unsuccessfully to quit.

When looking back on the process of quitting, they (the quitters) were able to see that the social

aspects of smoking were harder to overcome than cravings for nicotine." (191) A college wide

ban would create a new social norm where students do not smoke to fit in. Therefore, students

would have an overpowering motive to cease their disgusting habit. The ban would also

inconvenience student smokers to a point where quitting becomes their only option. The lack of

a tobacco ban at Amarillo College currently enables students to remain addicted during school

hours. By banning cigarettes, Amarillo College forces smokers to wait until after they have left

school grounds to light up. Students who have to wait 4 or more hours to smoke face many

uncomfortable and excruciating nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Nicotine withdrawal manifests

when a student has been without nicotine for an extended period of time. Symptoms of smoking

withdrawal include insomnia, fatigue, inability to concentrate, headache, cough, sore throat, dry

mouth, and irresistible cravings to smoke. Most student smokers, due to the severeness of the

withdrawal symptoms, would be unable to complete an entire school day without smoking. By

experiencing the terrible effects of withdrawal each and every school day, most students will

seek out resources to quit smoking. Thereby, validating the need for a campus wide smoking

ban.
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Some people may say that a smoking ban would only lead to low morale and upset

student smokers. Students who decide to quit smoking would experience withdrawal effects

including feelings of irritability, sleepiness and frustration; all symptoms of nicotine withdrawal.

Therefore, the symptoms of withdrawal would upset student smokers and lead to low morale

among said students. Nicotine withdrawal is not permanent and would subside as the student

progresses through a smoking cessation program. As a result, the low morale and negative

feelings are only temporary, therefore are not enough of a factor to prevent a campus wide

smoking ban. On the other hand, those students who decide not to quit smoking would

experience the same situation that smokers did when many restaurants banned smoking.

Smokers were initially upset by the ban but over time learned to handle any inconveniences that

may arise. As time progresses, people who are born after the ban would grow up without

knowing anything different. The benefits to current nonsmoking students, and to future students,

greatly outweighs upsetting a small number of smokers now.

Amarillo College has a responsibility to create a nurturing and friendly learning

environment for its students. Banning smoke on a campus wide basis, would bolster positive

attitudes among students as they walk around campus. Students would be happier and healthier

knowing that they will not be subjected to deadly consequences caused by second hand smoke.

Smoking students would also be more productive and accepted among their peers because an

Amarillo College smoking ban would give them an excellent reason to stick with smoking

cessation programs and, ultimately quit all smoking tobacco use. Amarillo College has a duty, as

community leader, to support TFA and community voters in the struggle against public smoking

by initiating a tobacco ban. A smoking ban gives Amarillo College the opportunity to show how

much it cares for not only its students, but also the citizens and communities of Amarillo. By
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banning cigarettes, Amarillo College is taking the next step toward a happier and healthier

college body.
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Works Cited

Brown, Richard A., et al. "A prospective examination of distress tolerance and early smoking

lapse in adult self-quitters." Nicotine & Tobacco Research 11.5 (2009): 493-502.

Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Nov. 2010.

Clark, Eileen, and Terence V. McCann. "The influence of friends on smoking commencement

and cessation in undergraduate nursing students: A survey." Contemporary Nurse: A

Journal for the Australian Nursing Profession 27.2 (2008): 185-193. Academic Search

Complete. Web. 21 Nov. 2010.

Credé, Marcus. "Class Attendance in College: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Relationship of

Class Attendance With Grades and Student Characteristics." Review of Educational

Research 80.2 (2010): 272-295. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 Nov. 2010.

Larsen, Jeff T., and Lee M. Cohen. "Smoking attitudes, intentions, and behavior among college

student smokers: Positivity outweighs negativity." Addiction Research & Theory 17.6

(2009): 637-649. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Nov. 2010.

Muttappallymyalil, J., J. Sreedharan. "Need to establish tobacco smoke zones in public places in

Kerala." Indian Journal of Cancer 47.(2010): S35-S38. Academic Search Complete. Web.

19 Nov. 2010.