Smoke free zones on The UNM Campus = a compromise

Okay, picture if you will someone (me) bicycling to campus. Heart is beating and pumping strong, lungs are expanding and taking in oxygen, mind is clear, and feeling pretty good. Only until I get to The UNM Campus and want to secure my bicycle to bicycle rack and then Blah!! As I have to pass through a cloud of cigarette smoke. And I think okay let me end my work-out by second-hand smoking a pack of “Fine Turkish Blends.”

I wanted to avoid the whole parking situation, help the environment and get some cardio, but every time I arrive on campus on my bicycle I have to maneuver through clouds of cigarette smoke. So I would like to embellish on Reyna’s blog about setting-up nonsmoking areas and designated smoking areas around The UNM campus.

I am a nonsmoker and to be honest I can not even conceive why someone would even want to smoke. Cigarette smoking can be a direct cause:
· Lung disease
· Heart attack
· Heart disease
· Hypertension
· Stroke
· Oral cancer
· Bladder cancer
· Pancreatic cancer
· Cervical cancer
· Pregnancy complications
· Low birth weight babies
And more… this is just the short-list. Cigarette smoking also turns a smoker’s hands yellow with stains and their face into a nasty craggy ugly fugly mess. Then there is the cost why someone would want to spend so much money cigarettes I will never understand. But if someone wants to understand how much they spend on cigarettes all they have do is multiply them amount they spend per day by 365 (days in a year) and that will tell them how much they spend per year. Then take that number and multiply it by 10 and that is a good estimate of how much one would spend on cigarettes in ten years.

And finally, as a matter of opinion, people who smoke just plain look stupid doing it.

But for those who do want to smoke cigarettes on The UNM Campus there is a need to establish specifically designated areas for them to go. That way people who want to avoid the smoke can avoid it, and for those people who love smoke, well they will know where to go.

Setting specific smoking and nonsmoking areas on campus would be a means to a compromise. And, this is something that UNM does have the resources to do. Additionally, UNM should offer resources to help smokers who want to quit to do so. If UNM does already have or offer these resources then UNM should do more to make people aware of what resources are available.

Once the boundaries are established students, faculty, and staff should be encouraged to and be at liberty to politely remind people of the smoking and nonsmoking boundaries. As previously noted in Reyna’s blog the area around the Student Union Building (SUB) where people are trying to enjoy their meal is one of the areas which needs to be a smoke free zone. As such, someone who is trying to enjoy their meal should not feel bad if he or she were to politely remind a smoker that they are in a smoke free area. If this is done with do care, tact, and politeness then the smoker should not be offended and the nonsmoker should not feel guilty.

The American Lung Association has a website: http://www.lungusa.org with information on smoking and smoking cessation; likewise, does the American Cancer Society at http://www.cancer.org/

For more information specific to establishing smoke free zones and designated smoking areas on The UNM Campus information is available from The UNM Smoke-Free Campus Coalition (COSAP). Contact information for COSAP includes:

UNM Campus Office of Substance Abuse Prevention (COSAP) - www.unm.edu/~cosap/
UNM Student Health Center (SHC) www.unm.edu/~shc1/ (505) 277-3136New Mexico Department of Health Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Program (TUPAC) - www
COSAP meets once a month and the next meeting will be April 24, 2008 at 2 p.m. in the Dean of Students Conference Room.

Establishing smoking and nonsmoking areas may not be perfect solution, but it is a good means of compromise for both parties.

Greg
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