U of M to become smoke free

Tonight Mary Sue Coleman sent out an email unveiling plans to make the campus smoke free starting in July of 2011. I was a little surprised. I don't smoke, and I prefer that people around me don't smoke but I never saw a problem with people smoking outside.

The reason given bf MSC was that "This will help reduce the risks of second-hand smoke and ensure a healthier environment for faculty, staff, students and visitors."

Well...

I want to know what the health care costs associated with outdoor secondhand smoke are. How much is being spent to treat people who inhale secondhand smoke while walking across the diag? How much secondhand smoke does MSC think there is on campus? I've never come out of the Dennison Arch smelling like a bowling alley. Maybe in my 4 years here I've inhaled as much second hand smoke on campus as I have in 1 night at the Brown Jug. Now I'll just inhale it walking to class on the non campus side of the street.

The Health System did the same thing a few years back. So instead of smoking outside on benches and by trees all of the smokers in the hospital have to walk across the street and smoke by the bus stops. I find it very ironic that in order to reduce the amount of secondhand smoke the administration forced the smokers to smoke right next to where people congregate to wait for the buses.

So the same thing will probably happen with the U goes smoke free. Instead of smoking on benches and areas around campus the sidewalks across the street from campus will now just have concentrated levels of second hand smoke.

It seems like an unreasonable rule especially when you consider how many little trucks Michigan has scooting around the grounds collecting leaves and polluting the air.