Tobacco use examined

St. Olaf may be a dry campus, but it is certainly not to- bacco-free. It is not uncommon to walk out of Buntrock Commons and bump into several students smoking on sur- rounding benches or just outside of the doors. This occurs outside of the entrance to dorms as well, and the phenom- enon is not limited to cigarettes. Students also use pipes, hookahs and cigars.

The fact that some students on campus smoke does not mean that St. Olaf is experiencing a tobacco-addiction epi- demic. However, the amount of tobacco use on campus gave students Miriam Brown ’12 and Juliette Gibes ’14 enough cause to present a documentary entitled “Tobacco: The Un- filtered Truth” in Viking Theater on Tuesday, March 27. By doing so, they sought to educate students about the hard- ships of tobacco addiction and quitting.

Brown commented that the documentary corresponds with previous attempts to address tobacco use at St. Olaf. “We were prompted to show this documentary because of a campaign that was started last year to make campus tobacco-free,” Brown said. “The movie was used as a start- ing piece to generate discussion and conversation about the possibility of St. Olaf being tobacco-free.”

Brown and Gibes hoped not only to give non-smokers an empathetic view of the difficulties of addiction, but also to offer smokers “on-the-screen role models” who had successfully quit smoking. The event was partly held in response to last year’s tobacco-free campus campaign, which Gibes described as being “insensitive to the difficulty involved in quitting smok- ing.”

According to Brown, the documentary advocates important ideas for smokers and non-smokers. “In order to fight to- bacco addiction, we shouldn’t blame those who smoke,” she said. “We need to look at the macro-causes of addiction and target the tobacco companies who profit from the addictive properties of nicotine.”

The event concluded with a discussion on how to assemble a take-home “quit pack.”

“Addiction is an individual journey,” Gibes said. “Not all become addicted the same way or for the same reasons. This is what makes quitting difficult.”

Besides enlightening students about tobacco’s role in the corporate world, “Tobacco” addressed common misunder- standings between non-smokers and ad- dicts.

“I’d like students to learn that it is use- less to simply tell a smoker to ‘just quit,’” Brown said. “They are victims of an addic- tion and of corporations who use trillions of dollars of advertising to ensure that

they stay addicted.” “Don’t bash on smokers,” Gibes added.

“Many try to quit multiple times and some never succeed.”

Although the event was described by Brown as a “stand-alone” associated with the Northfield Office for Public Health, it seems to reflect ideas similar to the cam- paign to ban tobacco on other college campuses, like Gustavus.

Like St. Olaf students, the majority of Gustavus students run into secondhand smoke near entrances to dorms and other school buildings. Over half, 53.1 percent, of the Gustavus population favors a cam- pus-wide ban of tobacco.

Brown notes that “unlike other colleges, onlyaverysmallportionofSt.Olaf’spop- ulation smokes.”

Despite the fact that St. Olaf might not have as many smokers as other college campuses, the film “Tobacco” suggests that there is room for improvement. If Oles make more of an effort to resolve the tobacco phenomenon, it is possible for St. Olaf to become tobacco-free.

There are no plans for related events in the near future. Until a follow-up event for “Tobacco” is scheduled, Brown encourag- es smokers and non-smokers to find more information on and help with addictions at the Wellness Center and health services.