The Smoke Free Illinois Act is now in effect. No smoking in any public building or business that is not licensed as a tobacco shop. There has been a huge cult following of people attempting to force the smoking populace into quitting or get cast out of society. Illinois is not the first state to have such an act. Ohio did it much earlier than Illinois and is a state where a large part of the state economy comes from the tobacco industry. This is only one of many states that have such smoking bans.
The whole secondhand smoke idea, as a reason to put in the ban, does not pan out. There are many non-smoking restaurants and bars. A person who chooses to work in a smoke-filled bar or restaurant does so understanding the occupational risk. A steel worker could fall off a 100 story building during construction and die, but there is no movement to keep all buildings two stories or less. That is part of the occupational hazard. An interesting statistic is that the Hancock Building had no fatalities due to its construction.
As far as NEIU is concerned, it does not affect our campus at all. We have no dorms and the Chicago ban made all the changes.
It is mainly the bar owners in the state who are crying about this, worried that people are going to buy their six packs to smoke and drink at home. Well, that is possible.
Smoking is as important to the bar industry as the pork rinds they sell behind the bar. They bring in a little money, but if they disappeared you would hear some complaining at first and then they would be forgotten.
The only way anyone can quit is for his or her own sake. That is something that people do not understand. You cannot force someone to quit, which seems to be what people are trying to do with legislation. It has to be a choice. It has to be something someone has to do for him or herself.
Smoking is addictive but it is also enjoyable, just like eating chocolate. It is something that a person who has never smoked could not understand. It is an acquired taste like coffee or beer. Most people choose to smoke because they enjoy it, not because they have to. There are plenty of over the counter treatments that can ease urges and help a person quit the physical addiction. That is the easy part of quitting smoking. It is the enjoyment that the mental brings that makes it difficult to quit.
Before you rush to Student Health Service to quit smoking, just because of some law, really ask yourself; are you quitting because you have to or because you want to? If it is because you have to, you are quitting for the wrong reason.
Mike Arch can be contacted at m-arch@neiu.edu.