As I was strolling around our beautiful campus admiring the blossoms that promised an early spring in the West Coast, something else caught my eye: the cigarette butts dispersed all over the campus ground. There is something unnerving about cigarette butts. Despite their innocuous look, they’re a reminder that some people willingly inhaled an assortment of carcinogenic chemicals into their lungs and dispersed the rest to the people around them.
Canada has one of the lowest smoking rates in the world with British Columbia in the lead. This has in part a lot to do with tobacco regulatory policies, such as messaging on cigarette packages, bans on cigarette advertising and sale to minors. Most important among them and essential to health of non-smokers is banning smoking in public places. The City of Vancouver has taken great strides in making sure we breathe clean air in public areas, not only inside buildings but also in parks, seawalls and beaches.
Not long ago, the idea of banning smoking in public places seemed ludicrous. A few years before that, tobacco companies openly advocated health benefits for cigarettes! Nowadays, we would simply laugh at anyone trying to claim any health benefits for smoking and we wouldn’t accept someone lighting up in a building or in a park where children are playing. But for some reason, allowing smoking on the campus of a university that envisions on creating an exceptional learning environment seems acceptable; so is the view of campus pavements carpeted with cigarette butts. Last reviewed in 2007, UBC’s Smoke-Free policy states that UBC promotes a healthy and safe university environment. This policy rightfully prohibits sale of tobacco products on campus and also smoking within eight meters of university buildings to promote health of students, faculty, staff and visitors. It’s time to go one step further and bring that health promotion message fully into action. It’s time for UBC to go completely smoke-free.
Many university and college campuses around the world have gone smoke-free. That means no smoking anywhere on university campus or property, no matter how large the campus is. Many Canadian universities have enacted such policy as well. Dalhousie University has been smoke-free since 2003. The Okanagan campus is already way ahead and restricts smoking to only designated areas.
No one needs to be reminded about the hazards of smoking. Science has repeatedly shown that there is no safe level of second-hand smoke. Yet, tobacco remains the top preventable killer of Canadians and a leading cause of hospitalization and re-hospitalization, even in British Columbia which was recently ranked as Canada’s healthiest province and 3rd in the world. Going smoke-free is not just about quitting smoking, although it would go hand in hand with it. It’s rather about providing clean air for students, faculty, staff and visitors and disallowing an utterly unhealthy habit from being practiced on campus.
History repeats itself. Each time tougher bans and regulations on tobacco are announced, tobacco companies and smokers strongly backlash with arguments on restrictions of their legal activities or personal freedoms. But also every time that a tobacco regulating policy is put into place, smoking rates drop and lives are saved. The odds are in our favour: a poll conducted two years ago at UBC suggests strong support for a smoke-free campus. We know it will eventually happen. From prohibiting smoking inside buildings, to six meters away from buildings, to eight meters away from buildings, to creation of designated smoking areas, going entirely smoke-free is only a matter of time. What are we waiting for?