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CRAIG T. KOJIMA / 2013
“A lot of students see it as a suggestion when it’s a policy, but now it’s going to be a law. For the most part people aren’t going to smoke in a place where they know other people are bothered by it,” said Stormy Dodge, a UH-Manoa graduate student who lobbied for legislation making the entire UH system tobacco-free. Above, a UH student uses an electronic cigarette outside Snyder Hall.
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Smoking soon will be banned on University of Hawaii campuses.
Cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco and electronic cigarettes will be prohibited upon approval by Gov. David Ige. Lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday that would make all 10 campuses tobacco-free.
“It’s definitely more powerful to have the tobacco-free law rather than just a smoke-free policy on each campus. I think that’s definitely going to have some weight,” said Stormy Dodge, a UH-Manoa graduate student who lobbied for the legislation. “A lot of students see it as a suggestion when it’s a policy, but now it’s going to be a law. For the most part people aren’t going to smoke in a place where they know other people are bothered by it. I would hope people have that consideration for others.”
Enforcement of the law is another story.
“It’s more of changing societal norms,” said University of Hawaii spokesman Dan Meisenzahl. “Even right now with what’s in place, for example, at the Manoa campus, we don’t have any enforcement powers, but you definitely don’t see as much smoking on campus. We’re just hoping as society changes our campus community changes as well.”
The university currently allows each campus to create its own rules around tobacco use. UH Manoa and Kapiolani Community College have implemented no-smoking policies, but none of the campuses are completely free of tobacco.
While the number of tobacco users has declined in Hawaii, the use of e-cigarettes — known as vaping — is rising at alarming rates, particularly among youths, according to the state Health Department.
More than a million of the roughly 20 million college and university students in America are projected to die prematurely from the use of cigarettes. Almost all smokers start before age 26.
