January 2, 2012. That is the date all Austin Community College campuses and facilities will be smoke-free. I found out the news through an article of the Accent paper at one of their many campuses I attend. It has already been over a month since the board of trustees had come to this decision. Personally, I don’t smoke and I have never had a real issue with choking on clouds of smoke while running to class so I could care less whether this ban will be followed through with or lifted later on down the line. Yet, I learned that these trustees had not initially come to the students with this idea in the first place. So, for the people addicted to the cancer stick, a move like that was “uncool”. Sam Rios, an ACC student, disproved of the action they took saying “they’re taking our rights away from us. Even if the results turned out the same way, I’d be a hundred times happier if they had just asked the students.” I hear that, but like I mentioned earlier, I’m not on the stick so I stand unchanged by this restriction.
Of course the main purpose of the ban was for health and safety reasons because second-hand smoke has been known to kill, but along with that ACC genuinely wants to help people stop smoking. There are resources out there to help people quit such as cessation programs (ex: Nicotine Anonymous) and making nicotine patches available to new non smokers. I think that’s great all they have going on to create cleaner campuses and healthier lives, but for cigarette smokers it’s going to difficult finding a new stress reliever as strong as you’re old, reliable cancer stick.
I'd like to start with a compliment on the catchy title "Gone Up in Smoke" and the use of the picture/comic also cleverly relavent to the article it's incorperated in as well as other posts of yours. Its a nice change from the typical bland paragraph format of most blogs of which I myself am guilty. It makes the read more pleasant in general and in this specific case adds some well placed humor. I thought it was a good informative read.
ReplyDeleteI myself dont smoke and would prefer not to run to class "chocking on clounds of smoke". I agree it would be nice if they would have surveyed the students before making the decision, but i believe the statement "they're taking our rights away" is exaggerated. Forcing smokers to smoke/harm themselves and only themselves (reguarding second-hand smoke) away from others seems a good decision I believe.