Drugs and Health - Free Essay Example

Introduction

Any tobacco uses among young adults and the youth is not safe and affects their health state in the future. Recently, the use of tobacco products among youth has increased at an alarming rate and poses a huge risk. While the country may pride itself in controlling and making progress in reducing cigarette smoking, significant measures need to be taken among the youths to reduce it even further. The landscape of tobacco products has changed significantly and includes varieties such as smokeless, electronic products, and smoked. The Electronic Nicotine Delivery System (ENDS) has the design of delivering nicotine, additives, and other flavorings via aerosol inhalation. There have been other conventional measures used by teenagers that are undetectable in school settings. It is imperative to ban the use of tobacco products in colleges and campuses. The benefits of such action outweigh the disadvantages and prohibit the use of tobacco products among the youth will help reduce them from becoming tobacco addicts in the future.

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Overview

Despite the warnings over the decades on the harmful effects of tobacco use, over 3.5 million students continue to use more than 40 million adults to continue to smoke. However, significant disparities persist among different groups that are outlined by geographical regions, economic status, sexual minorities, education level, and mental illness. The majority of tobacco users attribute having smoked before the age of 18 years (Cullen et al., 2018). Although the tobacco use prevalence among college students and campuses has continued to decrease, the number of tobacco users continues to increase. The use of electronic Cigarettes started in 2007, and they have become common among the youth. From 2011 to 2015, the use of E-cigarettes increased worryingly by 900% among high school and middle school students, and after that declined from 2015 to 2017. More than 3.6 million youths in the United States use E-cigarettes (Leavens et al., 2020). Among those, one in every five high school students uses electronic cigarettes while one in every twenty students do so in the middle school students. Although the E-Cigarettes are harmless, they contain nicotine addictive and harmful to the student’s health.

Exposure to nicotine among students will continue to harm brain development that is believed to go up to 25 years. In harming brain development, nicotine will interfere and impact student’s memory, attention, and learning. Tobacco use among the students also poses a considerable risk of them becoming addicts in the future and may involve them trying other drugs.

Additionally, the aerosol and tobacco smoke exposes other students who are bystanders to tobacco's harmful effects (Polosa, Russell, Nitzkin & Farsalinos, 2017). The students will also be exposed to toxic substances such as ultrafine particles, volatile organic compounds, and heavy metals that are deeply inhaled to the lungs. According to the CDC, 480000 annual deaths result from cigarette smoking, and 41000 annual deaths are due to passive smoking. Youth and adolescent use of tobacco are complicated further by the diversification of tobacco products. The industry has continued to target the young generations to remain relevant in the market. The patterns of use also add another complication in tobacco use as the youths grow accustomed to non-daily use, poly-tobacco, low intensity, and intermittent use. The evolving tobacco industry will require new approaches to handle tobacco use among students on campuses and colleges.

Position Statement

There is no denying the harmful effects of tobacco use among students. I believe banning the use of tobacco products in colleges and campuses will help deal with the harmful side of tobacco and reduce the number of cigarette smokers in the future. From getting lung cancer to cardiovascular diseases, tobacco use will bring more disadvantages if colleges do not implement measures of dealing with the problem. As of 2017, the CDC indicates that 2082 colleges and university campuses had instituted smoke-free policies. 1743 among those had already become tobacco-free while 1658 prohibited the use of E-Cigarettes (Wang et al., 2018). Colleges and campuses achieve the consideration of being smoke-free by completely banning smoking in outdoor and indoor areas. They become tobacco-free if they ban smoking and use smokeless tobacco products both indoors and outdoors wholly. Tobacco-free and smoke-free policies being implemented in colleges and campuses will help I reducing tobacco use initiation, acceptability of tobacco products socially, and harmful effects of second-hand exposure.

Reasoning Behind Position

In supporting the banning of tobacco use in colleges n campus, it is essential to identify measures that have been used before and their reach among the students. The traditional approaches used to prevent the use of tobacco and cessation are limited and do not seem to impact current young adult users. On the point of later age of initiation, it will prove challenging to use school-based programs, and thus implementing tobacco-free policies will be crucial. Few tobacco cessations and prevention interventions have addressed adolescent tobacco use problems due to their access to a variety of tobacco products (Rodgers, 2012). The cessation rates for youths on tobacco are low compared to adults, and it is crucial if the youths are not exposed to tobacco use in colleges and campuses.

Tobacco use poses a significant health risk to students and those who surround them. Implementing the ban of tobacco use will help in minimizing the risks associated with tobacco use. The trends in the use of tobacco among students are alarming, and it is crucial to have smoke free and tobacco-free colleges and campuses. Although there are many reasons for implementing the programs, it is vital to understand the challenges involved in banning tobacco in colleges (Lippert, 2015). In comprehending the processes of banning tobacco in colleges, it is crucial to inspect the impacts and discontent of the affected students. Implementing the policy of prohibiting tobacco on campuses will also help protect the passive smokers who are affected indirectly. On matters of health, there is no doubt that the colleges should be at the front in implementing the policies that seek the banning of tobacco use in their premises and outdoor activities.

Banning the use of tobacco will also help to keep campuses clean and checks on their aesthetics and beauty of colleges. It also reduces the risk of campus fire that erupts due to smokers' tendency to leave cigarettes around (Lee, Ranney & Goldstein, 2013). The maintenance cost of adopting designated areas for smokers seems costly for colleges and affects other students' health and the staff. The funds used for maintenance can be used to create more awareness in the communities to fight tobacco use even outside the school settings.

Conclusion

Adopting a ban on all tobacco products use in colleges and campuses proves to be beneficial not only for the students alone but also for the nation at large. A comprehensive approach to tobacco control and ban in colleges and campuses is achievable.by dealing and prohibiting the diversified tobacco products. Campuses stand a chance at helping reduce the deaths and harmful health effects that are a result of tobacco use. The reduction in the initiation and use of tobacco among youths can be helped by zero tolerance of tobacco use on campuses.

References

Cullen, K. A., Ambrose, B. K., Gentzke, A. S., Apelberg, B. J., Jamal, A., & King, B. A. (2018). Notes from the field: use of electronic cigarettes and any tobacco product among middle and high school students—the United States, 2011–2018. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 67(45), 1276.

Leavens, E. L., Lechner, W. V., Stevens, E. M., Miller, M. B., Meier, E., Brett, E. I., ... & Wagener, T. L. (2020). Electronic cigarette and combustible cigarette use following a campus-wide ban: prevalence of use and harm perceptions. Journal of American College Health, 68(4), 332-335.

Lee, J. G., Ranney, L. M., & Goldstein, A. O. (2013). Cigarette butts near building entrances: what is the impact of smoke-free college campus policies? Tobacco Control, 22(2), 107-112.

Lippert, A. M. (2015). Do adolescent smokers use e-cigarettes to help them quit? The sociodemographic correlates and cessation motivations of US adolescent e-cigarette use. American Journal of Health Promotion, 29(6), 374-379.

Polosa, R., Russell, C., Nitzkin, J., & Farsalinos, K. E. (2017). A critique of the US Surgeon General’s conclusions regarding e-cigarette use among youth and young adults in the United States of America. Harm reduction journal, 14(1), 61.

Rodgers, K. C. (2012). A review of multicomponent interventions to prevent and control tobacco use among college students. Journal of American College Health, 60(3), 257-261.

Wang, T. W., Tynan, M. A., Hallett, C., Walpert, L., Hopkins, M., Konter, D., & King, B. A. (2018). Smoke-Free and tobacco-free policies in colleges and universitiesUnited States and territories, 2017. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 67(24), 686.