Leanna Byrne | Editor
The greatest virtue that smokers have is their dedication to the freedom of choice. Above anything, to smoke is the right to inhale harmful substances that puts them at the risk of not only lung cancer, but a long list of various different types of cancer and a high chance of cancer recurrences. It is the liberty to shorten your life expectancy; the simple privilege of coaxing your body to procure heart disease. Smokers go against the grain to make sure that this poisonous freedom remains unrestrained because they are not fighting for the product itself, but the ability to consume it. We all know that if you have been a long time smoker, giving up will be the best thing for you to do. Understandably, it may not be easy at first, but with time and commitment, it will be very beneficial to your health. There are no health benefits when it comes to smoking, so it is really not worth it. But if you are a smoker and are considering giving up, maybe vaping might be something you might be interested in looking at. On that note, companies such as Gourmet E-Liquid will provide you with everything you need when it comes to quitting this bad habit. You’ll soon be on your way to becoming a non smoker.
The freedom of choice is a crucial principle for the new “Facebook lobby group” Dublin University (DU) Smokers as they are committed to providing a platform for Trinity smokers to oppose the proposed Tobacco Free Trinity (TFT). DU Smokers currently has 363 likes on Facebook and post battle cries such as: “We shall fight on the Arts Block benches, we shall fight on the cricket pitches, we shall fight in the squares and on the cobbles, we shall fight in the Pav; we shall never surrender” on their wall. This is all very cynical and for the most part amusing, but the question is are they serious?
I wrote to DU Smokers to request an interview with one of the creators of the Facebook page. They agreed to an anonymous interview with one of their spokespersons, which I thought was fair.
The first thing he told me was that DU Smokers is in no way ‘pro-smoking’. The page was started “for the craic”, just to highlight how ridiculous of a proposal they found TFT to be in a cynical, albeit, mediocre way. According to him TFT is “the most ludicrous thing that has come out of Trinity since I started”, but acknowledged that the proposal probably had the best interest of the students at heart.
Then what is the problem with TFT? Well, it would create a type of nanny state for smokers; an attack on a subgroup of students.
“I hate the idea that the authorities want to interfere so much with my health,” he said. “It’s my body, I choose to pollute it as I will. I’m not doing anything illegal.”
But surely, discouraging people from smoking is a good thing in itself? He assured me it was as it’s an awful habit. DU Smokers fully support removing the logos from smoke packets and even agree that taxing their favourite product is a progressive step, but telling a smoker that they cannot smoke in an open space is an absolute disgrace.
“If you want to be really cynical about it let’s stop the security car from driving around campus because of its CO2 emissions and a cocktail of other fumes. If you’re in the city centre you’re going to be exposed to a whole load of fumes anyway, so what’s the point in a smoke free campus?”
In fact, he went on to say that having a smoke free campus is distracting people from the broader issues. To illustrate this, he asked me if I was at the Pav on Freshers’ Week. Admittedly I was. He drew my attention to the “hammered students” that were there that night – the same could be said for most Friday nights. Whereas a smoker could smoke 20 smokes a day and the only damage that does is to yourself.
“I won’t start a fight and get sick. I’m pretty sure that if somebody drank 20 cans they would have a wider impact on their environment, especially in Trinity. People really go over the edge and get as locked as possible.”
On top of that, he assured me that TFT would be a fire hazard as it would mean that the residents would just be smoking in the comfort of their rooms. “The idea that somebody comes back from the pub absolutely pissed and says to themselves that ‘I would like a cigarette, but I can’t do it in the open’ and then they have a smoke in their room, they fall asleep and suddenly the bed sheets are on fire. Although, that’s probably a very extreme example…”
“It’s my body, I choose to pollute it as I will. I’m not doing anything illegal.”
Apart from the principle of the matter, the spokesperson was very sceptical about 300 students gathered on Nassau Street, spilling out onto the road for a smoke. He reminded me that when they brought in the Arts Block seating area “the authorities” tried lightly to enforce non-smoking and that the effort absolutely fell by the wayside so much so that it is now the cornerstone for the Arts Block smokers.
“If college are finding it difficult to police one tiny segment of a small square in Trinity, then I don’t know how they’re going to to police an entire campus. There are little places you can go to smoke. Security have enough to do.”
Furthermore, if it isn’t security that are policing the smokers, it would be the students spying out their own fellow students. Very 1984 if you ask our spokesperson.
However, the idea of TFT is not to alienate a social group, but to change their ways. If students are forced to leave campus for a cigarette then they might just kick the habit altogether. The DU Smokers spokesperson disagreed, stating that was “unrealistic” and that students are still going to smoke:
“In a situation where you have deadlines and a lot of work to do, if you want to take a product, which you are legally entitled to use if you want, the idea that you have to walk all the way out to jostle with the crowds of smokers congregated out on Nassau Street to have a cigarette, then it’s a pain in the arse beyond anything else”.
So, will DU Smokers be making an appearance at the Town Hall Meetings organised by TFT to voice their concerns? Naturally he would, but on an individual basis, not as a “pro-smoking lobby group”. The last thing he wants is to upset or outrage anyone because everyone knows somebody that has died of cancer.
Lastly, I asked him if he was ever going to quit himself. He mused over this for a minute and told me that every smoker intends to stop smoking at some stage.
“No smoker wants to be 40 and still smoking.”
