According to the American Lung Association, smoking is the number one preventable cause of death in the United States, causing over 393,000 deaths per year. On January 1, 2013, smoking became a banned activity from all Hillsborough Community College campuses. Many people, mostly smokers, are against this new ban, but I think it is a great idea.

  Smoking banned on campus may save lives. One-third of all smokers will suffer an early death because of tobacco use, and about a third of college students are smokers. At Hillsborough Community College, almost every corner I turn there is someone smoking, and I am at school from the early morning to the late afternoon. To most non-smokers, walking through a cloud of smoke is not really a big deal, but to others, it is suffocating, especially to those who have asthma, like my little brother.

  Last year my cousin came to visit for the holidays, and he is a pack a day smoker. He roomed with my little brother for the time being, and since my little brother had asthma, the smell of the cigarettes on my cousin triggered an asthma attack and he contracted pneumonia to the point where my little brother was admitted to the ICU at St. Joseph’s Hospital. My little brother’s lungs were failing and he stopped breathing at one point; luckily the doctors were able to save him.

These events were caused by secondhand smoke, so walking through a cloud of smoke is a very big deal to me. Secondhand smoke is a serious health hazard for people of all ages, and is estimated to cause close to 50,000   deaths each year.

  Smoking kills and second-hand smoking is just as dangerous. Not only are smokers harming themselves and wasting their life away; they are harming non-smokers by polluting the air. Non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke at work or schools are at an increased risk for adverse health effects. Secondhand smoke is especially harmful to young children. Secondhand smoke is responsible for between 150,000 and 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections in infants and children under 18 months of age, resulting in between 7,500 and 15,000 hospitalizations each year, and causes 430 sudden infant death syndrome deaths in the U.S. annually. This new rule of banning smoking on campus would put an end to secondhand smoke and make the environment healthier.

  Some smokers are upset that they can no longer smoke on campus and are saying the government is taking away their freedom, but what is the point in having freedom when smokers are closer to death’s door every cigarette they light up?

  Maybe the government is taking the smokers freedom, but the way I see it, the government is trying to prevent those 393,000 annual deaths. Tobacco alone causes 30 percent of all deaths from cancer.