As a college student, you see a lot of things while walking to class. There are people listening to music, talking on the phone or walking with friends. However, the biggest sight you see is of people taking smoke breaks or walking to class while smoking.
The smell itself is bothersome. Especially when the person smoking is walking a couple feet by you. However, is the annoying smell enough reason for the whole campus to ban tobacco use?
Most of the people attending Cerritos College are of legal age and they have the freedom if they want, but with a daycare for children within the campus, it might not be such an ideal situation for the parents of those children.
The daycare, which is located on the east side of the campus, is designed to take care of children whose parents are students or busy during a short time.
Having people walk around that daycare area with a cigarette in hand is not the best for the children’s health. Children of such a young age are already more susceptible to germs and illnesses more than an adult with a built up immune system, so the smoke from cigarettes can greatly affect them.
While being in college means more freedom for a student of legal age to use certain things, such as tobacco usually means that there is a freedom to smoke anywhere on campus, but banning cigarettes should be taken strongly into consideration.
Of course, it would be an exaggeration to ban tobacco from the entire campus since each individual is entitled to their right to do whatever they want, but maybe banning tobacco from the area around the children or at least banning it within 30 feet would be ideal.
The exposure of cigarette smoke can really cause a health problem for the children in the long run and being around it can cause a higher risk of asthma and simply create problems with breathing.
As an adult, people around school should already know the risks that come from smoking and even the problems that are created from secondhand smoking, so maybe taking the risks into consideration can stop those who smoke around the daycare center without the school placing an actual ban.
