As students hear that the City of Keene is drafting an ordinance, increasing the age to purchase or have tobacco products to 21, there are many mixed feelings. Some students don’t mind the ordinance being passed, while other feel like their rights are being ripped away. The Equinox sides with those students who question is the City of Keene is overstepping its bounds by trying to institute an ordinance that’s almost impossible to enforce.
The ordinance being drafted by city staff, once finished, will be brought back to the Municipal Services, Facilities and Infrastructure Committee for more deliberation before it returns to the full City Council for a vote on whether it will be passed. From the last two meetings on September 26 and October 4, it seems that the council is in favor of the ordinance. But how will this affect the community, specifically KSC students?
City councillors say that young people should not be buying tobacco product or vape items; Yet, those same city council members had that choice when they were 18, and most of the time it was seen as the norm to be smoking cigarettes. It is safe to say that if we traveled back in time about 30 years or so, the student center would have smoke clouds filling it. Back then it was okay, and it was a regular everyday habit. Every ten minutes someone would be pulling out a cigarette on Appian Way.
Now those years have passed, and multiple studies have shown that smoking cigarettes and using tobacco products is very dangerous, and can lead to many health related problems. So, fast-forward to today. Many companies have made an alternative or substitute to smokers for them to stop smoking i.e. e-cigs, Juuls, etc. How come these “vapes” are being used primarily by young adults and students who have never even touched a cigarette before? It’s interesting, and one could argue the reason it is so popular is that it’s the “cool” thing to do. What happens to these people in 30 years? Researchers don’t know, and that’s why it’s hard to put a label on how bad vaping can be for a young adult. Having said this, should the town really be passing a law that describes vaping as unsafe, when results are not even known yet?
In the community of Keene, most students feel pretty safe. But there is crime and problematic trends in Keene that are being looked into, like the opioid epidemic.
What happens when police are checking in stores (that sell tobacco and vape products) and are going searching for KSC students or high schoolers of Keene High? Are other issues pushed aside? It’s hard to say now, but passing this law will make other problems in this community worse.
Does it really affect students? Students across campus are associated with tobacco products — including vape and other nicotine products. After posting a poll on Facebook out of the 260 students who participated 128 of them said they were tobacco or vape users. Not to say that every student who smokes is addicted, but a large portion of students smoke. By walking on campus, it is easy to see students outside of buildings smoking a cigarette, or on their way to their next class, strolling down Appian Way with a vape in their hands. In today’s youth, it is a popular trend. The question that many KSC students are asking: Will the law be enforced by campus? Keene State College does have to abide by state and national laws, but in this case, they don’t have to follow the city ordinance of the nicotine product possession age. It is a city-wide thing, and actually does not include campus. So if the school decides not to go along with this law, then it is up to the Keene Police Department to enforce it. With enforcement comes protection. Young people need to realize what they have in defence of the law and what the ordinance might be intruding on.
Students and young adults have set rights that are given to them when they reach 18 years of age. They have more personal rights like being able to get piercings and tattoos. But they are also given rights that can directly affect the country and the U.S citizens. Why should an 18-year-old not be allowed the right to purchase a pack of cigarettes or vape juice, but no one turns their head when someone as young as 18 decides to risk their life for their country or they step into a ward and vote for the next United States President? It’s concerning that people in power want to take something away from young adults because they want them to be “safe.” Smoking should be not be nearly as prioritized as other things in this country that are hurting young adults. Despite this, some would argue that being given the right to smoke is one of the more harmful legal permissions that an 18 year old is given and should be limited or even revoked.
The people of the board and other citizens of Keene are not targeting young people. In a way, students should see where they’re coming from. Smoking in any way in never good for a person’s health, so even though we don’t know much about vaping, it probably isn’t the best thing to be doing. No, it is not fair for them to control rights like that, but in their eyes, they are doing it for the health of students and young people in Keene. People in their generation didn’t know much about smoking cigarettes or about other tobacco products, and now most of us know that it is a huge health hazard. Maybe they are just trying to prevent what they are currently going through from happening again in the future. Maybe it’s for the high schoolers that are not even 18 yet and smoking. Or maybe its to tell students and young people that it isn’t cool. According to ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (The National Center for Biotechnology Information), “Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable cancers. WHO [World Health Organization] estimated around 1.27 billion tobacco users world-wide. Tobacco consumption alone accounts for nearly 5.4 million deaths per year and one billion people may die in this century if global tobacco consumption remained at the current levels.” What if statistics like this come out true? What if scientist find out vaping is not better than cigarettes and can lead to future statistic like that one? Would young people then realize that City of Keene could have saved lives?
In the end, to all the students that do not smoke and do not care about the tobacco laws, it still affects and applies to many. Students: keep an eye out on the city calendar. As of right now it’s unsure when staff will have the ordinance drafted; the MSFI committee doesn’t have it’s agenda posted yet.
To keep the rights that were legally given to young adults, it is up to themselves to fight for it.
