Response to Acorn article, "Smoking Battle on Campus Lights Up"

[Paul Bertolini]

Originally Posted by Grace E. Dippo

I agree with post #1, and I think if Mr. Richlin was truly interested in the health and saftey of the student body, his platform would be to encourage the bookstore to sell anti-smoking products such as patches and gum, or ban smoking entirely, not just the sale of cigarettes. Banning the sale of cigarettes would only greatly inconvenience his fellow tuition-paying adults who have every right to make personal choices about their health, including to smoke.

Benny has made efforts to get the patch or nicorette gum sold on campus, I believe that was addressed in the article.

The inclusion of anti-smoking products in the bookstore is a valiant cause with which i agree. If this is really his goal, then i support him fully. However, if a ban on cigarette sales is his goal, or included in his goal, i am unable to support him.

lol NEAL YOU ARE ONE TRUE BADASS

If the previous comment was said with ill intent, then...your a true badass too!

and if it was meant as a compliment, then...your a true badass too!

[Rayanah Z. Kawam]

no i walk the path from hs and bc towards the library and uc and i always end up with smoke in my face, mainly because the smokers are in the path, or the wind blows...and it ends up in my face.

that sounds like secondhand smoke, frequent, scattered puffs of smoke.

but banning cigarettes won't solve the problem. it'll just make things worse.

see, the issue isn't banning smoking. It's getting Drew to realize that it looks "bad" that they provide cigarettes to their students when the majority of NJ colleges don't. I know people here are addicted to cigarettes, and I can't blame you (because the point is that they become addictive) but I enjoy a good video game from time to time. Does that mean that the bookstore has to provide them for me? No. Buying cigarettes in the bookstore is a privilege, not a right.

And we all know the health problems associated with smoking, so don't pretend that this is all Mr. Richlin's science.

And I'm not pissed at all of you for getting all heated about this. I am getting frustrated with the way people are manipulating this into something it isn't. Ben C. is making this about getting on Ben Richlin, and I think that's just stupid. People are saying that second hand smoke is a non-factor anymore, but anybody getting caught behind a smoker walking to class knows how shitty it feels. It's like me going up to someone and burping in their face. The bottom line is that this isn't a crusade to get smoking banned. It's just so Drew U doesn't promote such habits.

Originally Posted by Grace E. Dippo

The inclusion of anti-smoking products in the bookstore is a valiant cause with which i agree. If this is really his goal, then i support him fully. However, if a ban on cigarette sales is his goal, or included in his goal, i am unable to support him.

I'm going to be a student at drew next year, I'm transfering into the class of 2010 (I should be anyways, if anyone can provide me with some insight on the transferring process, I would really appreciate it, I'm kinda lost!)

I couldn't help but lurk this board to get a little more info about what the community is like and what not..

Anyways, my opinion is that by selling the tools to quit smoking would set a really good example. I don't advocate completely banning smoking, however, I am very open to to some comprimise in that area.

We know that smoking is bad for the smoker, and the people that have to breath the 2nd hand smoke. Some would argue that it's selfish for the smoker to continue to smoker being that its just not his or her body, its also the body of people around him or her. Honestly, I don't hold by that myself. As long as I'm not being smoked on, or smoked near I will be fine with that! Really! As we know some people could be asthmatic (like yours truely), and well the smoke just sucks for us people. I think its difficult to enforce a campus wide ban on smoking, I don't think they should watch students like hawks and stalk them just because they smoke either.. Perhaps if there is a comprimise to be made, we could make some smoker zones? Areas where kids are free to smoke away? Then the more populated areas of campus would be no smoking.. Again, difficult to accomplish! But it is a comprimising idea.

Thats just my opinion anyways.. I don't think anymore or any less of people that do smoke, I think its a bad habit, and its a waste of money.. However, I think everyone else does a good job at telling everyone smoking is bad for you than I do. I mostly only say something when someone blows their smoke in my face. Maybe a bit of common sense and courtesy would remedy that though?

Originally Posted by Joshua B. Pearl

ok so i dont know who these anti-smoking crusaders are, but i do know one thing: smoking makes you look cool. The only reason anyone would want to ban smoking is because they are so atrociously uncool, that they feel like they need to make everyone else less cool, just so they will have an easier time fitting in. im going to go smoke 3 cigarettes in my mouth at the same time, and i guarentee i get at least 3 phone numbers before im done.

hahahahahahahaha