In her letter published on Feb. 21, Nikki Lanka advises non-smokers to “hold their breath” if they don’t want to be exposed to cigarette smoke.
Simply: No.
I am not cold toward smokers. I understand that nicotine is highly addictive, and that addiction is a medical issue that is wrongfully stigmatized. I understand that OU isn’t tossing out tobacco cessation resources left and right (though as I gather, they are growing). Additionally, I will admit that I have never experienced substance addiction. But none of that makes it okay for the air going into my lungs, my blood and all through my body to be pumped with carcinogens by my peers. And if nicotine is one’s fix, there are methods of intake that don’t put ONE person’s drug and accompanying toxins into EVERYONE’S body.
It’s not just walking by Gordy. It’s walking up a hill behind smoke. It’s sitting on a bench downwind of smoke. It’s being in my room, and immediately smelling smokers outside my window through my air conditioning unit. And even when you don’t smell smoke, that doesn’t mean the products of smoking are absent from the air you’re breathing. I haven’t studied fluid mechanics, but this seems pretty obvious.
As far as police officers not having “the time of day to deal with that paperwork” goes, for one, we can’t be sure that the police would be the primary enforcers of a ban. But regardless of whom the task is assigned to, if they have any kind of relationship with their own lungs, or have been personally affected by the impacts of cigarettes and secondhand smoke as many of us have, I seriously doubt they will be as dismissive of the behavior as this letter’s author.
While cessation resources absolutely must be created and advertised in conjunction with a smoking ban, the ban is still necessary, if not long overdue. In fact, perhaps smoking violations could be used to generate funds for cessation programs. But whatever the outcome of this discussion, I stand by one thing: that nicotine-reliant students and faculty members find a way to function, without lining my lungs with death, is not too much to ask.
Rebecca Iacobone is a senior studying environmental geography at Ohio University.
