{"id":39813,"date":"2017-12-04T11:04:44","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T18:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=39813"},"modified":"2017-12-04T11:51:34","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T18:51:34","slug":"sait-ponders-campus-ban-on-smoking-cigarettes-pot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2017\/12\/04\/sait-ponders-campus-ban-on-smoking-cigarettes-pot\/","title":{"rendered":"With legal pot on the horizon, SAIT ponders campus ban on smoking"},"content":{"rendered":"

S<\/span>AIT is asking staff members whether they favour making the campus smoke-free next year.<\/p>\n

T<\/span>he institute’s marketing research department on Monday, Dec. 4 emailed an online survey to staff, asking whether SAIT should go to a full, or partial ban on smoking, or continue with the current policy of allowing smoking outdoors.<\/p>\n

Recipients were given until Dec. 15 to respond to the survey, which comes just months before the planned legalization of marijuana takes effect across the country.<\/p>\n

The SAIT survey makes no direct reference marijuana, or to the legalization plan, which is to kick in next year.<\/p>\n

Earlier this fall, SAITSA introduced an informal survey of a possible smoking ban, a proposal which has triggered controversy among students.<\/p>\n

SAITSA<\/a> placed automated voting stations in different campus buildings to gauge students’ opinions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to see what the students want,\u201d SAITSA presdient Alex Dimopoulos said in an earlier interview.<\/p>\n

While SAITSA has been collecting information on a possible ban, Dimopoulos said a decision will be up to SAIT, not the student association.<\/p>\n

Dimopoulos said that if SAIT becomes smoke-free, the ban would most likely include all kinds of smoke including that of cigarettes, marijuana and\u00a0vapes.<\/p>\n

None of these things would be allowed on campus, which would mean people would have to leave the campus in order to smoke.<\/p>\n

The possibility of a smoke-free campus has upset some of the SAIT community, as the campus rolls toward July 1, 2018, when marijuana is expected to be legalized in Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think smoking should be banned at SAIT,\u201d said student Christine Ritchie.<\/p>\n

She said she knows people who do smoke and sees how much it helps them de-stress even though she doesn\u2019t smoke herself.<\/p>\n

Ritchie also just enjoys being with her friends and spending time together.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just fun to hang out while they\u2019re on their smoke break,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ritchie said she knows people who can\u2019t concentrate if they haven\u2019t smoked a cigarette in a while.<\/p>\n

She also said it wouldn\u2019t be very convenient for smokers who live in residence at SAIT.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019d have to go out of their way to have a smoke instead of just walking outside,\u201d said Ritchie.<\/p>\n

Other people, such as SAIT student Erin Day, think that SAIT should be smoke-free.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents don\u2019t respect other students space when it comes to smoking and a ban could fix that,\u201d said Day.<\/p>\n

Smokers make it difficult for Day to navigate the campus comfortably.<\/p>\n

She said smoke can bother non-smokers and make them sick or uncomfortable, herself included.<\/p>\n

Day thinks there should be a ban, or at least stricter regulations.<\/p>\n

When people smoke outside of designated smoking areas (eg. close to the building doors), Day runs into problems because of how sick she feels as a result of the smoke.<\/p>\n

\u201cSAIT being a smoke-free campus would dispel a lot of my worries about having to miss class because someone was smoking carelessly,\u201d said Day.<\/p>\n

She said that it would make her, and likely other students, commute across campus a lot smoother.<\/p>\n

The decision on whether SAIT goes smoke-free won’t be made until next year. A committee has been struck to consider the issue, and other questions related to marijuana use on campus.<\/p>\n

Dimopoulos doesn\u2019t think that smoking should be banned altogether because some people cope with stress by using pot, and it is often used for medical reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has to be a compromise,\u201d Dimopoulos said.<\/p>\n

He wants to maintain the designated smoking areas that are currently on campus but also wants strict enforcement in those areas.<\/p>\n

Day thinks that marijuana should be treated and regulated just like tobacco on campus, even if SAIT isn\u2019t smoke-free by next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot everyone has a good relationship with marijuana, so I believe that it should be regulated just as much as tobacco,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

There has to be a compromise. – Alex Dimopoulos<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dimopoulos said that if anyone has questions to contact him at his email at\u00a0saitsa.president@edu.sait.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Controversy has been created over whether or not SAIT should become a smoke free campus next year. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":434,"featured_media":39842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S3 SAIT Smoke Free","footnotes":""},"categories":[711,1106,2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-39813","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-image","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-physical-health-and-wellness","9":"category-campus-2","10":"post_format-post-format-image"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/434"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39813"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41172,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39813\/revisions\/41172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}