Smoking In Universities

An action plan to help reduce the amount of smokers and secondhand smoke at AUT.

Smoking?

Approximately 5000 people die every year as a result of direct ciggarette use- that is 13 people a day! (Ministry of Health, 2008)

And around 350 die from exposure to secondhand smoke (World Smoke Free Day, 2008)

Ciggarette smoke contains a lethal cocktail over 4000 chemicals including carbon monoxide, hydrogen cynanide, Ammonia (used in toilet cleaners), acetone (paint stripper) and cadmium (used in batteries) 43 of these chemicals cause cancer (MOH 2008)

These chemicals cause horrendous diseases that devastate your health.

Action Plan- Smoke free information day at AUT, May 31st 2008

World Smoke Free Day!

On the 31st of may we will hold an action plan day at AUT that is designed to provide awareness to students at the effects and costs of smoking. It is designed to be appealing to the student body and is therefore packed with celebrities, sausage sizzles, petitions and a “smoking calculator” and of course there will also be opportunities for students to enlist in a smoke cessation programme to quit smoking!

AUT action information day

As part of our action plan, on World Smoke Free day (may 31st) we will have a “smoking calculator” that will aim to open students eyes to how much they smoke and how much it is costing them. For example, a student who smokes a pack a day will spend about $10.00 on each pack of ciggarettes. This expense per day multiplied by 360 (amount of days in the year) results in $3600 spent on ciggarettes. This multiplied by 3 (the length of many degrees at university) and you get $10800. That is approx 1/2 or ¾ of a student loan! This expense results in a huge amount of student money being wasted each year. If students stopped smoking and used this money to pay off their student loans much quicker.

Our calculator will work similar to the one on:

http://www.quit.org.nz/page/quittingSmoking/quitCalculator.php

Action plan- petition

We will create a petition that people can sign if they show support for designated smoking areas. By asking the student body how they feel shows we are respecting and taking into consideration everyones point of view and beliefs. If we gain enough support the big oak tree and outside AA block will become designated smoking areas and everywhere else smoke free.

We asked a 3rd year physio student how he felt about people smoking and he replied with: “I find it really unfair how peple are allowed to smoke around the café

where people are trying to eat. It’s really gross when I’m trying to eat my sandwiches and all I can smell is the aroma of other people’s smoke. They should definitley make the uni smoke free. I mean we are a health university. We should practise what we preach!”

By coming to a compromise we are respecting the rights of everyone. The smoker’s areas are away from people eating and also allows smokers to have a place where they can smoke.

Posters that will be used to capture the students attention

This poster will go in the mens toilet to capture the male student body.

We feel it is both humorous and informing.

More posters we will use

The theme of our action plan day

Our theme will be “the death of smoking” so students can wear black to show their support for a smoke free environment.

The point of this is to get students involved! People are more

likely to care about something if they are able to get involved.

What AUT offers

AUT provides a service where you can go to the health and wellbeing service desk and tell them you want to quit, a counsellor will be organised to help you with the quitting process, it is all free. This information at present is not advertised around AUT, we will put posters up and publish this in the Debate magazine.

Smoking Causes Cancer

This is a picture of a man who has a neck tumour as a result of smoking.

The pictures are designed to shock people and show the extremely damaging effects of smoking.

Smoking, Not Our Future

We will have famous New Zealand celebrity guests on campus from the “not our future” talking to students about the benefits of not smoking.

The benefit of this is that people will WANT to talk to these celebrities – which mean our campaign will reach out to more people.

Sausage Sizzle

Our day will also have a sausage sizzle and will be used to help interest students. It will be free and the only thing students have to do to get one is say one thing that smoking does that is detrimental to our health or bodies.

Our action plan day is focussed on students and the activities are designed to capture their attention to highlight the dangerous effects of smoking.

Thanks for viewing our action plan

References

Allan Cavanagh Arts. (n.d.). Smoking ban cartoon. Retrieved May 26, 2008, from http://www.allancavanagh.com/smokingcartoons.htm

Chapman, S. (n. d.). Anti-smoking posters. Retrieved May 18, 2008, from http://tobacco.health.usyd.edu.au/site/supersite/resources/docs/gallery_posters.htm

Ministry of Health. (2008). Tobacco control and smoking; Health effects of smoking. Retrieved April 21, 2008, from http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/tobacco-effects

My Fanarts. (n.d.). My fanarts. Retrieved May 26, 2008, from http://www.geocities.com/fatinshazahassan/myfanarts/40_fanart.jpg

Ryan Chow Show. (2008). Smoke till you death. Retrieved May 26, 2008, from http://ryanchowshow.blogspot.com/2008/03/smoke-till-you-death.html

Smoking Not Our Future. (n. d.). Celebrities. Retrieved May 26, 2008, from http://www.notourfuture.co.nz

Tobacco Facts. (2007). Oral cancer. Retrieved April 4, 2008, from http://www.tobacco-facts.info/oral_cancer.htm

World Smoke Free Day. (2008). Frequently asked questions. Retrieved April 20, 2008, from http://www.worldsmokefreeday.org.nz/pages/faqs.html