Smoking On College Campus

Today about four hundred thousands Americans die annually because of the health problem due to smoking. One and a half million people quit smoking a year, but more than fifty millions people keep on going. Tobacco contains nicotine, a drug that is addictive. Once you start smoking, it is very hard, but not impossible to quit. Smoking has several harmful effects on the body. People who smoke for a significant period of time will have problems with breathing and will most likely be in poor health. One out of four deaths of people from thirty-five to sixty-four years old result from smoking. Based on scientific research, every cigarette takes five and a half minutes of life away from a smoker. (American Cancer Society)

I see that there is a large amount of college students who are willing to light up a cigarette whenever they want to anywhere the college campus. Many of them said that "I am not harming people around by smoking." They are totally wrong. They are actually harming other students around by releasing the smoke from their cigarettes, which contains an extraordinary amount of toxin, into the air. According to an article from Air Purifiers, "The smoke particles and chemicals in the air cause asthma attacks and allergic reactions to occur in many people." Also, for many years, there have been many organizations and governments that reported secondhand smoke is very harmful to nonsmokers. Each year, fifty three thousands people die from the effects of second-hand smoke. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that three thousands nonsmokers die each year from lung cancer obtained from being exposed to second-hand smoke (American Heart ). The American Heart Association says that thirty five thousands non-smokers die each year with heart problems associated with secondhand smoke. In California, there is law that bans smoking in several public places but not all of them. In addition, many college smokers are social smokers who only smoke more when they are around with their peers. For example, my friend only smokes five cigarettes when he is by himself. However, he smokes more when he is around his peers. After smoking, he said that he felt less stressed and more relaxed. Here we see that, smoking on campus not only causes health problem to nonsmokers but also creates an environment that force other smokers to smoke more. As a college student, I see that smoking on college campus is largely ignored. Therefore, there should be something to be done to reduce smoking on college campus.

Many smokers said that they are aware of the harm of smoking. But if you go out and ask as many regular smokers as you can if they read the Surgeon General warning "smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and may complicate pregnancy," on the back of a pack of cigarettes, most of them will respond negatively. Here we see that most people have no true knowledge about tobacco other than secondary information. They don't truly understand the danger that they are in and bring to other people around.

So how can we decrease the amount of smoking on campus? Currently, many programs are existed to help students aware of the harm of smoking. However, it seems that such programs are not doing the best to help students. For example, on campus talks about smoking don't help much because not many students attend the talk show or the Surgeon General warning that prints on every pack of cigarettes also doesn't work well because not every smoker read it, and even if they do they don't take it seriously. Then what is the best way to get college students to quit smoking? The main object is to create the awareness about the harm of smoking among American people from their childhood stages until they are grew up as an adult. Letting people know the effects of smoking before they start. This goal can be achieved if we do the following actions. I propose the government to open classes that show students the harm of smoking and how it affects other non-smokers around through out the school system in the United States. These classes will be opened as a free course - no charge of money through out the school systems in the United States, and every student has to take the course in order to complete their degree or school years. In addition, these kinds of education should take place at every stage in the American educational system, starting from middle school and continue all the way up to universities. As students get educated about the harm of smoking, there will be hope that the number of smokers among college students would decrease. Also, further action can always