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Tanner Nelson Professor Susan Moore English 101, 9 am December 6, 2011 Let the Students Learn Mark Twain said that “As an example to others, and not that I care for moderation myself, it has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep, and never to refrain from smoking when awake.” Mark Twain is the author of many books that are among the most well known novels still today. Among them are “The Adventures of Tom Sawer” and “The adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. He was also honored by Oxford University as an accomplished writer. Whether a person just wants to read a good book, or is in the need for inspiration for their own literature, Mark Twain is an author that can be trusted. He thinks differently, but when it comes to his smoking addiction, he is a bad example. There are many reasons that not just smoking, but also tobacco use is bad for a person. It deteriorates good health and eventually destroys it enough to cause death. The addiction alone chains people’s actions and life to tobacco. A person’s addiction is not just their own, because others are receiving the unwanted affects by being near the addicted. Above all this is that tobacco has a negative effect on society’s future, because it keeps students from performing in school at their best. Banning the use of tobacco products on college campuses will help students focus on school. Students will not be distracted by second hand smoke. The unattractive and disgusting smell that smoking gives off is enough to steal anyone’s attention, but there is much more to that smell than not being appealing. Many people feel sick as they are around those that smoke, and according to the Surgeon General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources in January of 2007, it causes coughing, wheezing, and loss of breath. All of these effects are not only distracting to those suffering these symptoms, but also all those around them. Within the “Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing” by Joaquin Barnoya MD, and Stanton A. Glantz PhD, written in 2006, it says that second hand smoking has cardiovascular effects which include: “Platelet activation, endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, atherosclerosis development and progression, increased oxidative stress, decreased energy metabolism, and increased insulin resistance”. Many things are said in this short statement, and that is because there are many immediate effects of second hand smoke. Platelet activation is when there is damage to blood vessel walls, which leads to blood clotting. The effect that endothelial dysfunction has on a person’s body is that it loses it’s control over expanding and constricting it’s vane’s. This is a problem because the body can’t cause blood clotting when a person has injuries like cuts, and it can also weaken the immune system by constricting and slowing down white blood cells. Inflammation is very similar to atherosclerosis development and progression, because they both can cause arteries to swell, and eventually become blocked off. Increased oxidative stress creates what are called radicals in a person’s body, and these radicals which are electrically unstable atoms that strip electrons from everything else to try and become stable. By the time these run out they will have destroyed cells all throughout the body. Decreased energy metabolism is just the same as making a person age at a faster pace, because it is slows down a person’s cells, and an increased insulin resistance prevents the body from converting glucose into usable energy. Many of the effects that second hand smoke gives that are mentioned above greatly involve the breaking down and weakening of the immune system, or the defenses of a person’s body. That means that students exposed to cigarette smoke automatically have a higher chance of sickness and illness. A student who is sick is a student that cannot go to school, and definitely cannot perform in school the way that they would otherwise be able to. The USC and UCLA Children’s Environmental Health Center also brings attention to the fact that second hand smoke increases allergic response in people. Just being in the environment of those who smoke, or are smoking can activate a series of different allergies that most people now cope with. How likely is it that a student who is having an allergic reaction, who may be very school oriented, will be able to pay attention in class or while studying? The answer is that they will not be able to focus because they are trying to cope with their allergies. There are many effects that come with being around second hand smoke, and according to a report of the Surgeon General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources in January of 2007, there is “no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke” and that “ventilation technology cannot be relied on to completely control health risks from secondhand smoke exposure”. The only way to be safe from second hand smoke is to avoid it all together, but for students it can be a very difficult task. There are some things that students simply cannot avoid. Walking around campus to go to classes, and to use school resources is are very large ones, and if there are other people smoking then the campus is now a second hand smoking zone. Smoking on college campuses is negative for the larger majority of students and when thinking about those who are smokers, a person must remember that smokers choose to smoke, while others don’t always have the choice to not second hand smoke. The side effects of students being distracted from school by second hand smoke will be eliminated if there is no smoking on collage campuses. Students will have less time to smoke and more time for school work. There won’t be the opportunity for students to smoke, and that time that would be used smoking can be replaced with school work. CostofSmoking.com says that “Every cigarette you smoke takes about five minutes” to smoke. If a college student that is taking a two year program smokes only five cigarettes a day, five being a very low number for smokers, they will have wasted a total of twelve whole days smoking. Twelve days worth of time that could be uses for more productive purposes, like school work. With only five cigarettes a day twelve days are lost, but there are people that are classified as chain smokers who smoke at every moment possible. Taking large chunks out of a person’s life will leave a huge whole of nothingness that could have been filled with very useful things. That time could have been spent studying for a test, or writing an argumentative paper for an English class, the possibilities are endless. Students having this extra time does not mean that they will use it for things like homework. College age students are not known for using their time wisely, but it does rule out one very large, time consuming, and unhealthy distraction that pulls students from what they should be doing at school, school work. Smoking being banned on college campuses gives students more of an opportunity to do school work, and rise to their potential because of it. Students will be drawn to focus on school rather than to start smoking. There are many different reasons to why students will be less inclined to start using tobacco with it being banned on college campuses. Healtheffectsofsmoking.org points out many different reasons why people start using tobacco, and two of them will be influenced by having tobacco free campuses. These two are peer pressure, and a perceived status symbol, or just fitting in. Tobacco free campuses will help prevent students from starting and continuing smoking because it will cut down on the peer pressure that will occur. In fact it will fight peer pressure in two ways. First is that while students are at school they will never be around smokers to be tempted. A fulltime college student can take a minimum of twelve credits hours, which puts them at school a minimum of twelve hours a week for classes, and that is not including any on campus studying, or tutoring. That is a minimum of twelve hours that students are not around cigarettes or other people that are smoking them. The second way is that students will know that if they do start smoking then they will never be able to smoke at school. They will know that if they decide to be a smoker, which is everyone’s decision, they will have to deal with the inconvenience of walking all the way off of campus to smoke their cigarette. They can do that or they can take the risk of smoking on campus and getting caught and punished for it. The second reason for smoking stated by healtheffectsofsmoking.org is a perceived status symbol, or in other words, being popular, or being cool. A tobacco free campus will help in cutting this temptation down. School is wear many of student’s peers are, and around their peers is where they want to look “cool.” This is simply not an option on a tobacco free campus. In order for one to try to look “cool” by smoking, they have to be out in the open. Being in the open makes it so that people see them and they can have that social glory that they want. The problem with this idea is that if someone is smoking in a place that other students can see them, then so can security, and then the punishment for breaking the rules come into play. A student that weighs the options will be able to see that taking up tobacco use will be more inconvenient than satisfying and will instead be able to focus on school. The opposition would say that banning tobacco on college campuses will cause many students to lose focus in school rather than gain it. Nicotine withdrawals are a very real effect of a smoker not smoking for an extended period of time. Medline Plus is an online service of the United Stated Library of United Medicine and they say that “Nicotine withdrawal creates anxiety, irritability, headache, hunger and a craving for cigarettes of other sources of nicotine.” A nicotine addict is bound, and when they cannot have a cigarette, or a dip of chewing tobacco they are no longer able to work at their highest level. This is all true, but this argument overlooks many things. One very important thing to remember is that tobacco users chose to start, thus taking these disadvantages upon themselves. The opposition also says that “many” students will not be able to have focus because of these withdrawals, and many wont. The Americans for NonSmokers’ Rights shows that “approximately 30%” of college students smoke. A college campus can be one that creates an environment for 70% of it’s students to be able to focus, and be healthy at the expense of the 30% of students that choose not to be healthy, or it can be the other way around were the much larger majority of students suffer. Students that are addicted can overcome withdrawals by either quitting, or using substitutes, such as nicotine patches to get them through the day. All students will be able to focus more in school with tobacco free campuses, the minorities, being the tobacco users will just have to put a little more effort into it. It is each person’s choice to use tobacco, but Mark Twain’s smoking example cannot become college student’s reality. The college students of today are going to be society’s leaders in the future, and tobacco being aloud on college campuses is what will hold them back from performing at their best. Those that do smoke, and those that do not smoke are all affected. If there is smoking and other tobacco use present then students health is weakened and therefore causes students to be out of class more. Those students that do smoke could be some of the most intelligent students at school, but because they smoke throughout the day they are not able to focus in class as much as they could. If society’s future leaders are not the best they can be, then the society will not be the best it can be. Overall, tobacco use on college campuses distracts students from being able to focus in school and should be banned because of it.

Works Cited “Attention Students.” Americans for Nonsmokers Rights. November 1, 2011. November 18, 2011. < http://www.no-smoke.org/goingsmokefree.php?id=447>. Barnoya, Joaquin; Glantz, Stanton A. “Cardiovascular Effects of Second-hand Smoke Help Explain the Benefits of Smoke-free Legislation on Heart Disease Burden.” Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. December 2006. November 15, 2011. . Carmona, Richard.“The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Repot of the Surgeon General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.” Office of the Surgeon General. January 4, 2007. Tuesday, November 15, 2011. . David Diaz-Sanchez. “Pollution-Enhanced Allergic Inflammation and Phase II Enzymes.” Children’s Environmental Health Center at the University of Southern California, and University of Los Angeles, United States Environmental Protection Agency. 2010. November 17, 2011. . “Nicotine Addiction and Withdrawal.” Medline Plus. November 7, 2011. November 28, 2011. < http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000953.htm>. ”Reasons People Start Smoking.” Health Effects of Smoking. September 18, 2009. November 15, 2011. . “Time Wasted Smoking.” CostofSmoking.com. November 24, 2011. .