I am writing in response to Michelle Lamont’s column (“Smokers have rights too,” Oct. 3). While I’m all for people having rights, this is not an issue that is a simple personal decision that a smoker makes for himself. It’s not like “Maybe I’ll wear black instead of blue today,” it’s like “Maybe I’ll increase some random person’s chance of getting lung cancer today.” I mean, seriously, Lamont says that breathing second-hand smoke on a near-constant basis only increases the risk of contracting lung cancer by 20 percent. Only 20 percent? We’re already switching over to aluminum water bottles instead of plastic because of studies pointing to small amounts of cancer in rats with high doses of BPA, but when it’s proven that it’s a 20 percent risk increase in humans for lung cancer, it’s “pssh, whatever?”
Lamont writes as if smoking is something you just encounter in passing. Not true in most cases — people are in buildings, and they walk right outside the building to smoke when they want to. They aren’t walking around, they are right there in one spot. Say you want to go outside your building too, to get some fresh air? Too bad, no fresh air there. While there is a policy of how far away you have to be from a building to smoke, I can name you five buildings off the top of my head I am at frequently who do not enforce that policy. I used to get a headache in my old office because there were five people smoking right outside the door. I have horrible asthma and I have the right to clean air — what about those rights? Think about this: I didn’t have any asthma symptoms at all until after working in a restaurant with a smoking section, and my doctor told me I needed to quit my job. What about my rights to a healthy environment to me, as a worker in my job? There’s no way you can tell me that you’re going to endanger my health for someone else’s “right” to hurt themselves and me.
Ok, let’s focus on the actual smoker here. Yes, it’s a personal choice. Just like playing with knives and snorting cocaine are personal choices. Do we still tell people not to do them, and not allow them to do them at the University? Yes. Smokers are endangering themselves by smoking. No, we can’t conquer every smoker’s addiction at once, but if we don’t allow it as much, maybe they won’t smoke as much. This is called caring about their health. And caring about other people is American. What is un-American is easily allowing people to simultaneously hurt themselves and to support tobacco companies who profit off of slowly ruining our nation’s health.
Every single one of my friends who smokes has tried to quit. But then they gave in to smoking again, because the environment they were in made it easy. If we can make it harder for them to have that addiction then that is just another reason for them to quit smoking.
Lamont tries to get us to pity the smoker. Let me tell you, I don’t know one of my smoker friends who would walk from Clemons to 14th street to smoke. They just wouldn’t smoke, period. Oh no, they smoked one less cigarette that day. How tragic. I can just hear lungs breathing easier around the entrance of Clemons.
Lindsey Daniels
CLAS ‘08
Read More
LETTER: Misunderstanding the Honor Committee’s mental health procedures
By Seamus Oliver and Alexander Church | March 15, 2024We recognize that the Honor process can be stressful and that any student may benefit from support, regardless of an underlying health condition.
LETTER: Mischaracterizing a tangled war
By Michael Liebermann | February 2, 2024We should not address this war with blind idealism. We should address it, instead, with nuance and care.
P.U.M.P.K.I.N. SOCIETY: Happy Halloween 2023
By P.U.M.P.K.I.N. Society | October 31, 2023The P.U.M.P.K.I.N. Society Recognizes Individuals Who Enrich The University Community Through Their Silent And Selfless Service.
