By: Lauren Olsen
Last January, McMaster University’s president Patrick Deane took a stand and banned all forms of smoking on school grounds, making McMaster Ontario's first 100 per cent tobacco and smoke free campus. This included banning the on-campus use of cigarettes, cigars, hookah, pot and most importantly, the ever-popular vape pens.
The ban on campus was a welcome sight for those opposed to tobacco, however, the ineffectiveness of enforcing this policy rendered the ban as a bland suggestion rather than a legitimate rule.
You can witness this phenomenon simply by walking around campus. You won’t make it far before encountering students vaping in direct violation of the McMaster ‘ban’, with their discretion being non-existent. Students can be found vaping in classrooms, lecture halls, residences and around campus.
Recently, there was an opening of the 180 Smoke Vape Shop in Westdale which will only further support and make accessible the habits of smokers. The store offers everything including e-cigarettes, vape juice, pens and portable vaporizers, and is located just a short walk from McMaster University.
They are attracting not only smokers who may be trying to quit, but others who lack the proper information about the hazards associated with vaping, and may only be concerned with becoming part of the current trend. They are promoting this product as a commercialized, socially-acceptable activity rather than a helpful addiction quitting strategy for tobacco smokers.
For McMaster students, it’s just a short stroll to a readily-available addiction which is now a booming industry. According to BBC News, the number of vapers has increased rapidly — from about seven million in 2011 to 35 million in 2016. The global vaping products market is now estimated to be worth up to $22.6 billion USD.
The rapid growth of the industry is not a victimless development. New products need new users and stores like 180 Smoke Vape Shop will likely be getting their customer base from McMaster.
Other than perpetuating the ‘look’ and fueling the industry, students are playing with fire and risking addiction. Although e-cigarettes do not contain any tar, carbon monoxide or other chemicals found in tobacco smoke, they still mimic the familiar action of a smoker and can be addictive. What used to be a method to quit is now becoming a method to start, and making smoking acceptable again.
The smoking population who are slowly cutting back their nicotine addiction to quit smoking have made way for the young adults who are peer-pressured by the new “cool” thing to do and, in turn, are becoming dependent on the addictive drug.
Harvard Health Publishing describes the side effects of vaping to include the potential of diabetes, loss of impulse control, impairment of brain development and elevated heart rate and blood pressure. Thus, the antidote is quickly becoming the poison.
I am not advocating that McMaster shutdown 180 Smoke Vape Shop, or campaign to influence public policy. Rather, the university should enforce the very rule they promised in early 2018, in order to make McMaster a safer environment and community.
Creating a ban was a novel idea, but not following is more than just lazy enforcement — it is potentially dangerous to student health.
More and more youth will be exposed and persuaded to try vaping, which easily perpetuates an addiction whose lasting health implications are still being determined. Moreover, the campus itself is not an inviting space with smoke billowing from its hallways and paths. It’s time to inhale the future and start enforcing the smoking ban on campus.
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Cody Grioat
The Sputnik
BRANTFORD (CUP) — I’m not going to take the time to bounce around the topic. I think it’s about time marijuana was legalized in Canada. To be quite honest, I don’t see why it isn’t yet. I’ve never personally smoked (or otherwise ingested) marijuana, but I’m still firm in my belief that it should be decriminalized and legalized. Nice and simply, here’s why I think we’re past due on a revised weed bill.
We’re in debt. Big time, as a country. According to a wonderful website called Debt Clock that helps figure out a rough image of a country’s federal debt, we’re at about $17,500 in the red, per person. Keep in mind we have 34 million people in Canada. We may not be as bad as other countries, but do the math; we’re in the hole. Now, I’m not saying that national legalization of weed will solve our financial problems, but at the same time it would do a lot to aid in it. In Ontario, according to a smoker’s rights advocacy group, Ontario cigarette prices (for a carton of 200) was around $30.35 in 2003. In my opinion, that’s generic viagra online crazy enough. Then you figure out that a whopping $20.66 of that price is the multiple taxes from the provincial or federal government.
Now you see how we could use legalized weed to our advantage. The taxes alone on legalized weed could easily be a multimillion dollar industry, if sold the same way we’ve been distributing alcohol and cigarettes for decades. In my eyes, it’s an amazing business move. There’s a whole other argument related to money saving in the sense of not needing police to “waste money” enforcing it anymore, but I’d argue that point in a separate article.
Marijuana is not lethal, meaning, you will not die as a direct result of smoking or otherwise ingesting weed. I’d say it becomes a pretty reliable fact when the Government of Canada “Healthy Canadians” website clearly states the non-lethality of it, right under the many short-term effects (among them, spontaneous laughter, how scary) and above the list of long-term effects. I noticed something on the page dedicated to tobacco that quite frankly pissed me off: the effects of tobacco aren’t listed, that is, not unless you scroll down to the bottom of the page and find a separate link directing you there. Once you read and compare, you see that tobacco effects are in fact much worse, in a shorter amount of time, too. Don’t get me wrong, marijuana can be bad. It can lead to (as our government website tells us); impaired short-term memory, psychosis, mild paranoia, anxiety or panic in the short-term.
In the long-term, you could experience enhanced chances of schizophrenia, breathing problems, or cognitive impairment. Now, on that hidden tobacco page? Smokers can experience problems with their heart and blood vessels, certain types of cancers, lung and respiratory problems, menstrual problems, fertility problems, premature delivery, having a low birth weight baby, erectile dysfunction and premature death. I don’t smoke tobacco either, but if I had to choose between a cigarette and a joint, based on what my own government is telling me? I know what I’d be grabbing.
Time for a fun fact. When same-gendered marriage became legal in Canada, straight people were not forced to marry someone of the same gender. After abortion became legal in Canada, our nation still had numerous women giving live birth. Odd, isn’t it? Tobacco is legal, but I’ve never smoked in my life. Alcohol is legal, and guess what, people drink. But some don’t. The thing that ties all of these together? Possibly controversial laws, that you don’t have to take part in if you don’t want to (or, in the case of same-gendered married, it may simply not be something that effects you on a personal level). Just like if weed was legal, you wouldn’t have to smoke it if you didn’t want to, as with alcohol or tobacco; if weed was legal, you would have to follow laws related to it, just as with alcohol or tobacco. Of course, it probably wouldn’t be a perfect system. Many would abuse it, we’d probably still have illegal dealers, and underage users. Laws should be enforced stating that only certain businesses could sell it and to individuals of certain age groups. If using, there should be limits on what you could be doing afterwards (and for a certain time afterwards), enforced as with drinking and driving, and in overly public places with children.
I don’t use it now, and if (when) it’s eventually legal, I still won’t. It’s just something that doesn’t personally appeal to me. But from the eyes of someone who doesn’t use marijuana, I still think it’s well past the time to decriminalize and legalize.
