The pass­ing of the new leg­is­la­tion ban­ning smok­ing in all restau­rants, bars, hotels, and other pub­lic places is being met with both sup­port and crit­i­cism from Ferris stu­dents. Both sides have their doubts and praises of the new law.

Students with reser­va­tions about the ban are mainly con­cerned with the fact that the ban on smok­ing is an intru­sion into the pri­vate lives of Michigan cit­i­zens. Sophomore Evan Thompson believes that the smok­ing ban not only vio­lates the rights of smok­ers, but also busi­ness owners.

“The choice to have a smoke-free premise or not should be entirely left up to the owner of the estab­lish­ment,” he said. “Just as it is our choice on whether we, as con­sumers, fre­quent those same businesses.”

Eric Simon, a sopho­more in the account­ing pro­gram, also dis­agrees with the ban, but for dif­fer­ent rea­sons. His argu­ment is that the ban will even­tu­ally lead to a decrease in the num­ber of smokers.

“Because smok­ing has typ­i­cally been the high­est taxed prod­uct in Michigan, bring­ing mil­lions of dol­lars in state rev­enues, the ban will be cost­ing Michigan a source of income,” said Simon.

“Not only does the ban not make eco­nomic sense, it also could be the begin­ning of future taxes,” said Simon. “I wouldn’t be sur­prised to see an increased tax on alco­hol.  What is the dif­fer­ence?  Alcoholism kills peo­ple too, yet you don’t hear any­one com­plain­ing about it.”

Other stu­dents have stated their sup­port of the ban based on the poten­tial health ben­e­fits that it will provide.

Maddie Hall, a pre-pharmacy stu­dent, is one of them. She said, “Not only will [the ban] help reduce the can­cer that can appear due to sec­ond­hand smoke, it will also allow peo­ple to enjoy them­selves when they go out. They don’t have to worry about smelling the smoke and cough­ing constantly.”

According to the American Cancer Society, approx­i­mately 3,400 lung can­cer deaths occur annu­ally in non-smoking adults and an esti­mated 46,000 deaths from heart dis­ease occur in non-smokers who live with smokers.

Secondhand smoke can also lead to breath­ing prob­lems in non-smokers, res­pi­ra­tory and ear infec­tions, chest dis­com­fort, and reduced lung function.

In chil­dren, sec­ond­hand smoke can con­tribute to chronic mid­dle ear infec­tions; lung infec­tions, includ­ing pneu­mo­nia and bron­chi­tis in chil­dren younger than 18 months; increased cases of asthma; and an increase in the num­ber and sever­ity of asthma attacks in chil­dren with asthma.

Thompson, how­ever, believes that the effects of sec­ond­hand smoke aren’t as big of a deal as every­one, espe­cially the gov­ern­ment, makes them out to be.

He said, “This is once again an exam­ple of fear-mongering by our gov­ern­ment. The smell or inhala­tion of smoke in a non-smoking sec­tion of a restau­rant is neg­li­gi­ble for the aver­age diner.”

Whether or not the con­sen­sus on cam­pus is that the smok­ing ban is a pos­i­tive or neg­a­tive piece of leg­is­la­tion, it will nev­er­the­less go into effect statewide come May 1.