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Smoke-free BSU is a healthy choice
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I am all for banning smoking on campus. Why should those of us who don’t smoke be tormented with second-hand smoke? I have been in the medical field for 10 years and I can’t believe some of the things I have seen.
Working in an Intensive Care Unit, I have seen patients come in with respiratory failure and hooked up to a breathing machine. Once they have recovered, the breathing tube is removed and they are on the road to recovery or at least I thought so. One day I overheard a patient ask their doctor if they could go outside and smoke and their doctor said no! These people almost died and they are so hard up for another cigarette that might be their last?
Our tax money pays for people on oxygen who have emphysema from smoking. Why should our tax money pay for something the person did to themselves? It is not our fault that they smoked for years and years and now are unable to breathe unless they are on oxygen.
I had a family member who smoked heavily for years go through heart bypass surgery. Thirteen blood vessels were blocked on his heart and the doctor told him it was from smoking. The doctor also told him that he probably wouldn’t have lasted but another year, then he would have been dead. It took a very dangerous and delicate surgery to open up his eyes and he hasn’t smoked since then.
I have seen parents smoke in their cars with the windows partially down thinking that the smoke will go out the window. For their information, it doesn’t and it is so sad to see little children subjected to the abuse of having to breathe second hand smoke. I think that the parents should be charged with child abuse for damaging their children’s lungs and causing them to have asthma, chronic bronchitis, and other respiratory problems. Insurance costs on are the rise and those who smoke with respiratory problems cost insurance companies a lot of money. There should be a line drawn when it comes to insurance premiums. There should be lower rates for those of us who do not smoke and high rates for those who do.
A lot of the area hospitals have made their grounds totally smoke-free and I think that is so awesome. Why should someone who is sick enough to be in the hospital be allowed to smoke near one. I have seen a respiratory therapist, who is supposed to help those with breathing problems, smoke while she was pregnant.
What is that telling us? Not only does the actual second-hand smoke aggravate people with respiratory problems, the smoke in their clothes is just as bad.
I am totally in favor of banning smoking on campus. If BSU wants to promote itself as a health-conscience campus, they need to turn the campus into a smoke-free environment so that everyone can enjoy it!
Michele Shopland is a student at Boise State
Michele Shopland
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