Society has adopted many bad habits, and many of them only affect the individual performing the act; one such habit is smoking. Smoking is an unhealthy past-time and should be banned on the campus of Cleveland University. because it exposes non-smokers to the health hazards cause by smoking.
In the United States of America citizens are allowed more freedom than most citizens of other developed countries. Although the government of America gives its citizens the right to smoke it has also educated them about the dangers of smoking; and people who choose not to smoke should not have their rights infringed on by smokers. Banning smoking on the campus of Cleveland States University is not taking away the rights of its smoking students or faculty; it is simple exerting its rights. If I (the client) want to take part in a certain behavior that is not practiced by all of society, I will go to a place where my behavior is acceptable. For example, if I want to walk around nude, I would not do so in my neighborhood; I would go to a nudist’s camp. Therefore, smokers can choose to follow the university’s mandates or go to another university.
A non-smoker and a smoker who are friends have to make a decision about their friendship or about smoking. A friend who cannot tolerate second-hand smoke has to decide whether or not he or she wants to stay in in rhe presence of that friend whenever he or she is smoking; and the smoker has to decide what he or she wants most a friend or a nicotine fix. Prohibiting smoking, Cleveland State University is not discriminating against smokers; it is protecting non-smokers and saving smokers from themselves.
A lifetime smoker is at high risk of developing a range of potentially lethal diseases, including: cancer of the lung, mouth, nose, larynx, tongue, nasal sinus, oesophagus, throat, pancreas, bone marrow (myeloid leukaemia), kidney, cervix, ovary, ureter, liver, bladder, bowel and stomach; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; chronic bronchitis and emphysema, coronary artery disease, heart disease, heart attack and stroke; ulcers of the digestive system; osteoporosis and hip fracture; poor blood circulation in feet and hands, gangrene and amputation ( Better Health Channel).
No other unhealthy activity has the potential to cause as many diseases as smoking and the university would have failed in its responsibility if it did not try to keep its student and faculty healthy.
Almost everything in life requires sacrifice and a student has to elect what he or she wants most, a nicotine fix or an education. Every pack of cigarette comes with a health warning on it. If smokers only knows one thing about smoking, it is that it is addictive; and when he or she chose to smoke, he or she was aware of the consequences. It is the smokers responsibility to make sure that they are comfortable in class and to get their brains in a learning mode; and if the crave for nicotine is impeding learning, then it behooves that those students to drop their bad habit. There are several ways to quit smoking, but Anna’s story might be a wake up call. She said she started smoking when she was thirteen, at age twenty-two she met Paul, a smoker like herself; they got married and even pregnancy did not stop her from smoking. Pau’s mother had a brain hemorrhage and the next year at fifty-five she died from a heart attack, smoke related incidents. At age thirty-six she had her third child who suffered from severe mental and physiological retardation, they try to keep the air around her clean; therefore, they would go outside to smoke. Her father died from cancer that had metastasized throughout his whole body; he also suffered from emphysema even though he had stopped smoking for years. On his death bed her father asked her to give up smoking but she could not. At age eleven her retarded child finally died and Paul had a stent inserted into his heart valve and that was when they quit smoking; at the time this story was told she had quit smoking for eleven months. Anna said smoking was her way of dealing with stress, but now that she has stopped smoking she has less stress and is more energized, she is confident that neither of them will ever smoke again (Stories from former smokers)..
As with ever new policy or rule, not everyone will like the non-smoking policy at Cleveland State University, and if rules do not come with penalty then they are not rules. The university might be spending what seems like unnecessary resources to catch who disobey the policy but it will profit more than what it is spending because the students who refuse to abide by their law will have to pay for their transgression. According to WebMD non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand have a twenty to thirty percent more chance of developing lungs cancer; and twenty-five to thirty percent chance of developing heart disease; 146,000 people are estimated to have died each year from second-hand smoke; between 7,000-15, 000 children die from second-hand smoke; and forty percent of all children taken to the emergency room for asthma attacks are living with smokers. The Cleveland state University has every right to protect its student and facility from untimely disease and death.
If a person has aids or tuberculosis he or she is required by law not to spread that disease. Just because all the harms of smoking and second-hand smoking are not manifested immediately, it does not mean that precaution should not be taken to keep non-smokers safe. The Cleveland State University has every right to keep smokers off its campus.
Work Cited
“Smoking-effects on your body.” Better Health Channel. Web. Retrieved 1 Nov. 203.
“Stories from Former Smokers.” Web. Retrieved 1 Nov. 2013.
“Effects of Second-hand Smoke.” Web. Retrieved 1Nov. 2013.
