I read the article “Partnership offers help with breaking cigarette addiction” in the paper on March 2, and I hope that my comments will help Mississippi State students in the future deal with smoking.
I am a student at MSU, but currently I am on an internship in NYC. As you may know, you are not allowed to smoke in the bars here, which is one of the best things about going out here.
I do smoke when I drink and other times, so I can relate to smokers. When I go to the bars here, I don’t want to smoke because I don’t have those people lighting up all around me. Plus, I will freeze to death if I go out to smoke.
Another fact that I love about not smoking at bars is that you can wear what you wore to the bar the night before the next day, and you won’t have that disgusting smell saturated in your clothes.
I think that the bars in Starkville need to ban smoking in their establishments. I know this will anger a lot of people, but I really don’t care. Like I said, I smoke and I agree with the ban here.
I went to the Tennessee football game last season, and people there don’t smoke in the bars nearly as much as they do in Mississippi. I realized after about 10 minutes of being in a bar that no one was smoking, and that is when I started liking the concept.
Some may say, “Hey, if I pay to go to the bar, why can’t I smoke there?” Well, you don’t pay to get in a bar to smoke. If that were the case, you would be wasting $5 to smoke, plus you can walk your butt outside and puff away.
You’re not only affecting others’ health by smoking, but while smoking you may be influencing others to start smoking.
Going to smoke-filled bars is one thing that I am not looking forward to next semester. I had two great points that were brought up when writing this article.
One is that if you give people the option, most people are going to go to smoking bars because of peer pressure. If you take the option away from people, then there is less of a pressure to smoke.
The other which I agree with is that if someone wants to go out and have a few drinks after work or after studying, they will not mind going to a bar where you can’t smoke. I would prefer going there.
It would take time, but in the long run it would benefit the bars and all that go to the bars.
People may not agree with my comments, but if it was to happen, people would realize what I am talking about a little better.
By writing this, I am hoping to maybe bring up a point that has not crossed the minds of students or residents of Starkville. Maybe some bar owners will try this out for a month or so to get an idea of how nice it really is to not have to deal with smoke.
The last comment I have about smoking in general is that here in the North, smoking is looked down upon and I love it.
People who smoke here are generally older or trashy, which I hope will be the case in Starkville in the near future.
Luke Grogan is a senior general business administration major.