Students respond to annual Smokeout

Today marks the 24th "Great American Smokeout," a day sponsored by the American Cancer Society to encourage smokers to quit, with hopes of lowering lung cancer rates. But not all smokers at IU appreciate the motivations behind the Smokeout.\n"I'm going to smoke more than I normally do (in response to the Smokeout)," said freshman Brian Stutsman. "I'll do a pack-and-a- half."\nThe Smokeout, which always falls on the third Thursday of November, was designed by the ACS to aid smokers in quitting smoking by providing a means of support and raising "awareness of the many effective ways to quit for good," as the ACS states on its Web site. The ACS attributes increased tobacco regulation and markedly lower lung cancer rates in the past 20 years to the awareness raised by the Smokeout. \nSophomore Yasmina Bersbach said she thought a day without smoking was too much for the ACS to ask.\n"If you're a real smoker, I don't think you'll be able to go a full day without smoking like that," Bersbach said. "People would flat out die." \nJunior Isaiah Estell, who has been smoke-free for more than a year after eight years of smoking, thinks otherwise.\n"Something gradual would not be an 'event,' bringing the attention the day is designed for," Estell said. "People who are smoking (more than a pack a day) will probably not be doing it anyway; the day is for those that can make it."\nThis year's Smokeout renews discussion in Bloomington about smokers' rights as the smoking population is reminded of the smoking ban that will be instated in bars and clubs beginning Jan. 1. Some smokers wonder why the venues were ever targets for anti-smoking legislation.\n"(Bars and clubs are) not the place you go to be healthy, anyway," junior Josh Deal said. "I prefer the smoky bars, myself."\nFor more than a year, Bloomington Municipal Code Chapter 6.12 has banned smoking in public places, such as restaurants, but at the start of 2005, previously exempt 21 and older bars will need to begin enforcing the ban.\n"There should be designated areas, and they should be enforced," Estell said. "Half the reason I don't go out (to bars) is because of the smoking. If they didn't have that, maybe I'd go more." \nFor more information, www.cancer.org.\n-- Contact staff writer Jeff Alstott at\njalstott@indiana.edu.