Smoking and College
College kids are smoking cigarettes, even while knowing about the health risks involved.
Sunil Ram
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Every year, smoking is attributed to an average of 443,000 deaths, according to the Centers and Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC also reports that smoking harms every organ in the body, and more deaths occur from tobacco usage than from; HIV, drugs, alcohol, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined. The Surgeon General reports that even second hand smoke is toxic, cancer causing, and is never safe. Still, smoking is very prevalent in today’s society, and on college campuses.
“School can get really stressful, so I’d say my smoking levels go up a bit during those kind of times,” said Alex Hagen, a 20-year-old junior at SUNY Albany, “I usually go through a pack or two [each pack typically contains 20 cigarettes] a week. During finals week, that number gets increased by almost double.” Hagen noted that cigarettes can have a “calming” effect for him, as well as his college friends who also smoke.
“I don’t think the cigarettes actually calm people down,” said Dr. Padma Ram; a Medical Doctor who practices Internal Medicine, “People only feel the calming sensation because they have an addiction to [cigarettes]. I have patients from ages 16 to 65 that I tell to quit smoking because of health reasons, and also because [cigarettes] are pretty expensive.”
When asked if she deals with patients in college that smoke, Dr. Ram had this to say; “Very frequently I see college kids who inform me they smoke. I don’t have concrete statistics off the top of my head, and can’t get into specific cases because of doctor-patient confidentiality, but I see the [college] kids who smoke in my office more frequently with a sickness, than those who do not.”
The CDC reports that on average, smokers worldwide die 13 to 14 years earlier than non-smokers. They also state that smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and an estimated 49,000 of tobacco-related deaths are the result of secondhand smoke exposure, in the United States.
“I’ve heard about the risks and health problems that come with [smoking],” said Matt Hackett, a 21-year-old junior at the College of Saint Rose, “Hearing about all the health risks is pretty scary, but I just try to tune it out. I feel healthy and exercise regularly, so I don’t think smoking has slowed me down much.”
When asked if he planned on quitting smoking anytime soon, Hackett couldn’t give a straight-forward “yes” or “no” answer. “I really don’t know. The first cigarette I ever smoked was about a year ago from today, and I didn’t even like it. Soon after, I started smoking a couple [cigarettes] on the weekends, and gradually increased that amount. Now, I’m up to about two packs a week and I’d like to quit the habit sometime soon, but it’ll be hard for me to stop while I’m still in college.” Hackett also added it doesn’t help he lives in a house full of college kids who regularly smoke.
“People my age just come up with excuses to make smoking okay in their minds,” said Justin Green, a 20-year-old junior at the College of Saint Rose, “I’ve never tried a cigarette in my life and don’t ever plan on it. A lot of my friends in college smoke almost every day and usually talk about how they want to quit, but never do anything about it. They always say they’ll quit when they’re older, or they only smoke when they drink [alcohol], but it’s just stupid they’re smoking. It’s very un-healthy.”
When asked what he thinks colleges can or should do regarding smoking, Green had this to say; “Put pictures of cancerous lungs all over campuses, especially by smoking spots, then maybe people might get the message.”