Smoking ban at U of R extends to inside of cars
Donna Pasiechnik is giving the University of Regina top marks for joining 25 other Canadian campuses that have gone completely smoke free.
Smoking will be banned on U of R campuses as of Aug. 1 — even if you’re simply parked in your own vehicle.
“Allowing students to smoke in their cars would undermine the objective of encouraging people to quit,” said Pasiechnik, manager of tobacco control, media and government relations with the Canadian Cancer Society. “It would have the potential to make the parking lot another big smoking area which is something the university is trying to get rid of.
“Other universities are doing it the same way.”
Under the new smoke-free campus policy, tobacco, marijuana or other products such as electronic cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos and pipe tobacco will not be permitted.
“The new policy replaces our Smoking on Campus policy, and is a continuation of efforts to ensure everyone learning, working or visiting our campuses have a safe, healthy and clean environment,” Dave Button, vice-president of administration, stated in a news release.
In September, the number of places on campus where smoking was permitted was reduced from 19 to three. The new policy builds on what Button called “the success of that change.”
The smoking of tobacco or any other substance will not be allowed in any university-owned or leased building, on leased or owned university property or in university vehicles or vehicles parked on university leased or owned property.
Advertising or the sale of smoking and tobacco products will be prohibited on all U of R campuses and the growing of cannabis will not be allowed in any university residences.
Pasiechnik hopes banning advertising and the sale of tobacco will reduce the smoking rates of young people.
She noted the 2016 Saskatchewan Alliance for Youth and Community Well Being Survey found that 19 per cent of Grade 11 and 12 students smoked. There were 8,671 students surveyed.
Tobacco can continue to be burned on campus for smudging and pipe ceremonies.
The use of medicinal cannabis for medical purposes is not covered by the policy and may be recognized as a “duty to accommodate” under Saskatchewan Human Rights legislation.
Going smoke-free is the right decision given the well-known health risks associated with smoking and second-hand smoke, Button said.
“The university has also been considering the implications of the pending legalization of the recreational use of cannabis, which is expected this fall, and implementing a smoke-free policy now addresses many of the concerns associated with the federal initiative,” he noted.