I wanted to congratulate The Daily Free Press for taking a stand on the tobacco issue. Smoking is not only the number-one cause of cancer-related deaths, but cigarettes kill more than alcohol, car accidents, AIDS, suicide, homicide and illegal drugs, COMBINED!
As Laurel Trayes pointed out in her Wednesday’s letter to the editor, “Rethink smoking rules,” 32 percent of college students are smokers. When you apply that percentage to BU’s student population, the total number of smokers is 10,240. According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, 33 percent of smokers die prematurely from their tobacco use. That’s 3,379 current BU students who will become victims of tobacco.
BU has both an obligation and an opportunity to lessen the amount of tobacco addiction and death. They pride themselves on protecting students with their alcohol policy, as well as the residence guest policy, but where BU has fallen short is with tobacco. The younger a person is when he or she starts smoking, the greater the likelihood of lifelong addiction. A college student who has not become a smoker by the time he or she graduates is unlikely to begin smoking.
As mentioned, many schools throughout New England, as well as the country, have adopted smoke-free policies and are successfully enforcing them. Not only do these policies save lives, but they help the school’s reputation. Smoke-free universities produce smoke-free graduates who are extremely favorable to employers. Non-smokers are generally healthier, more productive (because they take fewer breaks throughout the day) and have lower health insurance premiums. These tobacco-free colleges and universities can market themselves as offering a healthier pool of job candidates to potential employers.
With so many advantages to providing students with a smoke-free community, it’s a wonder that BU hasn’t begun to implement new policies or enforce current regulations. It’s time to take action. BU has empowered us through knowledge; now it’s time to use it to better ourselves and our campus.
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