At last The University of Michigan is banning smoking on all three campuses at Flint, Dearborn and Ann Arbor. This ban will be campus wide starting in July 2011. But what is unclear is what is taking so long and why is it only one university at a time? In today’s health melting pot of so many issues and so many diseases, should not cigarette smoking by students in a place of higher learning be banned unceremoniously?
Well first of all, we need to have legislation for every little aspect of our life. We need to be told to put on a safety belt in the car, to wear a helmet when driving a motorcycle or a bike, and to eat fewer calories in order to lose weight. So what is wrong with banning smoking universally at all universities and colleges throughout the United States?
The fact remains that people do not need to be told everything in their lives. University students are smart enough to know that smoking is harmful to their health and they do not do things just to fit into peer groups or to be cool. That sort of behavior goes by the wayside after high school if not before. Very few students at university choose to smoke and if they do it is frowned upon.
So why not enact a universal, country wide all-encompassing ban on smoking at any campus? The legislation takes too long and the smart ones are already doing the right thing by not smoking. Whether or not they are on campus property is not the problem or the issue. The fact that smoking is still an issue is the problem.
Smoking at any age is the deterrent and should be legislated so that people will be protected from themselves. It is sad that the government has to step in and to do this action.