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Cigarette smoke is one of the worst irritants for an asthmatic like me. The slightest whiff will send me into a coughing fit, wheezing until I am able to use my inhaler.
Obviously, I don’t smoke, but I will defend the right of anybody who wants to. There is currently a movement to make the University of Maine a tobacco-free campus, and it’s an absurd limit on our rights as Americans and as people.
Just imagine if Administrators got it in their heads to make UMaine an alcohol-free campus. Go ahead. The paper will still be here when you are done laughing. They could also reiterate how terrible marijuana is by banning it even harder this time. Pot smokers would get more paranoid and start smoking in their rooms, covering the smoke detectors with plastic and when they fell asleep and set the dorm on fire, the blame wouldn’t be on the extra-super-double-awesome ban on the already illegal drug, but on the students.
Smoking has been in danger on campus since the inane “20 feet from building entrances” rule was first enacted. Nobody who smokes follows the stupid rule, so smokers seem like serial rule breakers. How do you punish serial rule breakers? Take away their toys. Do you see how the bureaucratic system on campus works yet? The UMaine administration has supreme authority and the student government, while consulted on this issue, ultimately has no say in the final decision. You can infer for yourselves what this says about the student senate.
Let’s talk about smoking as a health hazard. Have you ever heard of the smoker’s paradox? The basic idea is this: In many studies about smoking and health, the smokers in the study are healthier in general than the nonsmokers or former smokers. It almost seems like everything you ever heard about smoking being bad for you was untrue.
As for secondhand smoke – it sucks, but it is not a health hazard. The first documented case of a person dying from secondhand smoke occurred in February of this year. The acutely asthmatic girl exposed herself to a smoke-filled environment at her job and died of an attack 20 minutes later. Now, if this is the first death attributable directly to the irritant, where did all the other huge numbers come from in the anti-smoking industry?
Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer, yes, but by even the most liberal measures, only 8,000 people get lung cancer because of exposure to secondhand smoke each year. You are more likely to be struck by lightning than to get lung cancer from secondhand smoke.
One of the stranger aspects of the ban is that it would also encompass chewing tobacco. I’m no genius, but does sticking some chew in your lip pose a danger to anybody but yourself? Either the ban is supposed to punish addicts, or the people who think they are trying to save the environment are taking away our rights over an unproven issue.
Final point: Can you imagine how many of your professors will be suffering from nicotine withdrawal after the ban is put into effect? Do you want to have to deal with cranky friends, resident assistants and classmates? Is it really worth it to deny your friends a necessary commodity because they broke a ridiculous rule?
We all know that smoking is bad for your health. So is every addictive substance. Smokers know that smoking is bad for their health, – they just don’t care, and they don’t have to care. That’s the beauty of American freedom.
Chelsea Ketchum is a first-year majoring in inhaling second-hand smoke and dealing with it.
