Lighting-up the ‘White finger’

Picture by: Google.com

Click. Exhale. Cough. The trend that blows tar down your lungs seems to be the latest ‘cosmetic surgery’ in town. Everywhere you go, you are bound to find a herd of students, gathered together, with that ‘white-finger’ stitched to their hands. Non-smokers step-out of the fog with red-patchy eyes, exhaling with a sigh of relief. Some take the stand, breath-in-and-out, as if the ghost just passes right through them.

The constant battle between smokers and non-smokers has been ignited since the very start. Now that more cigarettes have become like a parasite to students, will non-smokers eventually burst?

According to K.Peltzer, a writer from African Health Sciences, ninety percent of smokers start smoking at or before 18 years of age. “Out of 3000 teens that do smoke, 1000 of those will end up dying as a result of smoking” said Eliz Khan, a health researcher. Even though students who do smoke are constantly reminded by medical advice, advertising and peers that smoking can cause your lungs to burn-up, why do they still take the puff?

Many teenagers start smoking due to a number of various factors. The most common and misunderstood reason, however, would be due to peer pressure. Although many students deny that they started smoking due to peer pressure, according to research, if a teenager spends most of his time with friends, who do smoke, there is a good chance he will start as well.

Rhodes University aims to raise the red stop sign, when it comes to smoking. But according to a survey done on 24 students, which consisted of smokers and non-smokers, apparently, non-smokers do not feel the same way. “No system can be implemented to stem the carelessness of others - and in the end that is what it comes down to” said respondent 12, a first year non-smoker.

The Senate and Council of Rhodes safety, published a set of rules on the Rhodes website, titled ‘Smoking in a workplace.’ Number five reads: “An employer must ensure that employees, who do not want to be exposed to tobacco smoke, in the workplace, are not so exposed” but according to non-smokers, this is not the case. “As a non-smoker, I don't respect them because one can still smell the smoke” said respondent 10, a first year non-smoker.

With pressure building down on me from the non-smokers corner, I decided to balance out the see-saw by taking a trip to the smoker’s world.

Smoking is not cheap. I think we all know that students and money never last long in a University town. With prices rising in almost everything, nowadays, smokers have to spend a big portion, of the amount they have, on buying a pack, that only lasts for about an hour before the roads get flooded with buds and boxes. Depending on what type of brand you are smoking, it seems that the cheaper the box, the worse the quality.

The addiction is such a powerful flame within smokers that sometimes they have to risk taking the packs that cause the most harm.

Psychological issues are what grab the smokers’ eye to the counters behind the till. Many students say that they smoke to lose weight or relieve stress that builds up inside them. What they cannot seem to grip, however, is that this ‘build up’ in the body, is actually the eruption of damage within.

The effect of smoking on the human body is indescribable. Many diseases, mostly various cancers, can occur to smokers in the future.

Non-smokers complain about secondary smoke that they are forced to inhale. “It's horrible to be around and unhealthy. Why would I do something that has absolutely no benefits?” said respondent 5, a first year non-smoker.

According to Mike Barratt, a primary researcher behind Natural Societies, Second-hand smoke causes exposed individuals to have an increased risk of heart disease by 25-30%.

Students’ biggest complaint is the lack of respect towards each other and many feel that Rhodes needs to step-up the game, when the ‘white finger’ finally falls.

“Buds should be treated like all other trash and should be put in a bin. Hence, Rhodes should provide more bins and cigarette bins on campus” said respondent 10, a first year non-smoker.

It has been proven that the craving for nicotine in cigarettes increases as levels of emotional and physical stress uploads. Feeling stressed can lead to more smoking but this cycle only creates stress for everyone. Will this tension between smokers and non-smokers ever be stomped out?