Editor,
I'm glad to see interest rekindled in the discussion on banning smoking on the UNM Main Campus.
For my money at this public institution, I want every opportunity to give my lungs and olfactory senses a break from carcinogens and foul odors.
Let's face it: This is the 21st century and we now know what smoking does to both smokers and bystanders. Schools throughout the country and even our own North Campus have addressed the issue, yet those on the Main Campus continue to struggle with the concept. But I'm not writing about future UNM policies. Those will come in time.
What I am writing about is a law that overwhelmingly passed the New Mexico State Legislature last year and that went into effect on June 15. But you wouldn't know it by walking around Main Campus.
The Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act was enacted to create a smoke-free indoor environment in all public and commercial building settings. One of its provisions is to prohibit smoking within a reasonable distance of doorways, open windows and ventilation-system intakes.
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The intent of this provision is to keep smoke from entering buildings as well as to keep building entryways free of smoke. UNM has failed miserably at this, because it seems to encourage smoking at the entrances to most buildings by placing ashtrays conveniently next to doorways and not enforcing existing laws and policies.
The outcome is that smokers and nonsmokers alike can get a nicotine fix by entering the UNM building of their choice.
It's time UNM starts posting no-smoking signs at every entrance and move ashtrays out of arms-length of doorways. Perhaps, few of us nonsmokers will then become militant about our right to clean air.
Danny Hernandez
UNM student
