The McGill Student Society recently voted in favour on campus-wide smoking ban. But the question is: will it work?
There are some Canadian universities that are smoke free, such as Dalhousie in Nova Scotia, and non-smoking advocates think it's the right way to go.
“We have heard from students with asthma and migraines and other respiratory conditions that it's something that really impedes their ability to focus during the day,” said student senator David Benrimoh.
The Quebec coalition for tobacco control says every anti-smoking measure leads to fewer people smoking. In the 90's one in three Quebecers smoked; today it's one in five.
“Studies have clearly shown that when you do implement a smoke-free policy, you reduce exposure to second hand smoke, so you have less contaminants in their bodies, even for non-smokers,”said coalition spokesperson Flory Doucas.
The MUHC superhospital is supposed to be smoke-free, but that doesn't stop a lot of people from lighting up and the hospital can only do so much to police smokers.
Back at McGill, many say a whole smoke-free campus may be a pipe dream.
“I think that students are stressed out enough as it is and to place these bans it's just a bit too much,” said one student, but another student who does smoke said if he wants to smoke he’ll simply do it off campus.
The university is now looking at how to go about implementing a ban.
