Three months from now (see here), my university will ban the use of tobacco products on campus. For many years now, there has been a ban on the use of tobacco products indoors. It is being extended to the outdoors. The rationale for the ban is public health. "Secondhand smoke," it is said, "has been identified by the U.S. Surgeon General to be the cause of preventable diseases." But the ban covers smokeless tobacco. How is this related to public health? Are people spitting tobacco juice down other people's throats? (Sorry for the image.)
I expect a legal challenge to the ban on smokeless tobacco (the argument will be overbreadth), and I hope it succeeds. The university has no business paternalizing people. It's one thing to prevent people from harming others; it's quite another to prevent people from harming themselves.
Note also the lack of an enforcement mechanism. There is no mention of campus police or of a fine for violating the policy. Instead, individuals are encouraged to rat and snitch on others:
Members of our campus community are empowered [?] to respectfully inform [sic] others about the policy in an ongoing effort to enhance awareness and encourage a culture of compliance.
This is going to lead to confrontations, and, in all probability, violence. Mark my words.
Addendum: Here is an op-ed column about New York City's new outdoor-smoking ban. Here is an essay by musician Joe Jackson about smoking bans in general.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 