Smoke-Free Policy at University of British Columbia

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Main campus of Louisiana State University (LSU) becomes tobacco-free from autumn 2014. Judith Sylvester, an associate professor at LSU, is the person who proposed and promoted the smoking ban on campus. She told that she is happy about the smoking ban but implementation of this smoking ban is just less than half the battle.

These days at LSU smoking is permitted in special designated zones, but anti-smoking activists want campus to be totally free of tobacco.

In 2013 Louisiana approved a law demanding colleges and universities to develop their own smoke-free policies. The law is an addendum to the Louisiana Smoke-Free Air Act that bans smoking in some public places and workplaces, states that colleges also can go the extra step of excluding all tobacco.

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Sylvester and her supporters belive that the new policy will encourage smokers to quit. Annually the state spends millions of dollars on smokers who suffer from smoking-related diseases. State will benefit from smoking rates reduction.

Ernie Ballard, the spokesman for LSU, told that there was created a special  committee to work over anti-tobacco policy for the University. It is expected that the policy will come into action by August 1.

However, the policy does not impose fines for those who break it. People will be informed about the policy and recommended not to smoke. The supporters belive thatsocial-norming approach will work very well. It was estimated that more than half of students and staff do not use any kind of tobacco products. It should be said that the policy will ban not only cigarettes but also smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes.