A Ban On Cigarette Smoking In Materially Educational Institutions (Essay Sample)

Name Course Professor Date CIGARETTE SMOKING The cigarette is not considered as a narcotic drug despite the harmful effects it brings about to both the active and passive user. The cigarette contains a lot of chemicals which include carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, hydrogen cyanide among others; these chemicals when inhaled by the active user may also affect the passive smoker (Harris 59). Several efforts have been put forth in an attempt to reduce the smoking of cigarette among the youth as well as the old in the society. Research shows that the different strategies used to create awareness result to different coverage of the smoking population. The rate at which people are engaging in cigarette smoking is alarming; this is especially for the young generation. Most of the smoking population according to studies fall under the age of campus education. With the high rate at which they get to smoke, then it becomes the responsibility of the campus administration to enact policies that ban smoking in the campus premises. This ban may be enacted in an attempt to prevent health effects of smoking, reduce cases of house fires, prevent peer influence and reduce litter as a result of cigarette remains. Smoking within the campus premises should be banned to reduce the cases of harmful health effects of cigarettes. Cigarette smoking affects both the active smoker and the passive smoker. In a campus setting, there are those who smoke and also those who do not smoke. In an event that smoking is allowed on the campus premises, almost everyone who comes into contact with the smoke may have their health affected. During smoking, the mainstream smoke is inhaled by the active smoker which is then emitted to the surrounding; here the passive smoker gets into contact with it. If it happens that the active smoker has a communicable disease there are high chances that they may cause the passive smoker to contract the disease. Low levels of ventilation have also been blamed for high chances that both the smoker and the nonsmoker may inhale toxic gases which in some cases are carcinogenic (Harris 60 & 61). Due to the high population in many of the campuses, there are high chances that among them, the smoking portion is large, this poses a threat to the nonsmokers. Cigarette smoking in buildings has been blamed for causing fires. Cigarette smoking within the campus environment may lead to the outbreak of fires. The campus environment is not different from any other built environment where fires have been reported due to smoking. In the United States, two percent of the fires that burn buildings is caused by smoking, in the overall, there are more than seven thousands cases of fires that are as a result of smoking (U.S. Department of Homeland Security 2). The outbreak of fires in buildings as a result of smoking results in losses due to damages and may also result in injuries in people. Most of these fires occur in bedrooms where people may tend to smoke mainly during the night after a long day (U.S. Department of Homeland Security 2). Smoking in the campus premises may result into peer influence hence adding on the smoking population. Most of the youths who smoke cigarette started as a result of influence from their peer friends. Studies show that young adults aged between the ages of fifteen to twenty-three reports to have begun smoking due to the influence they encountered while with their smoking friends. More than forty percent of those who are influenced into smoking by their friends do so because they spend most of the time together (Bindah & Othman 1058) ; this shows that there are higher chances of nonsmoking students getting influenced into smoking by their smoking friends due to the long time they spend together in the campus environment. Cigarette remains may add litter to the campus environment and hence compromise its cleanliness. The littered remains of cigarettes are very widespread in the environment. With the rise in cigarette consumption among the youth who are on the campus, there would be lots of littered cigars in the campus premises if smoking is allowed. The cigarette butts are toxic to the environment and cause pollution into the waterways if they happen to be washed away. ...