News-Letter

One cigarette on the weekend turns into multiple packs over time. (courtesy of http://www.ab.lung.ca) [Click to enlarge]

A study released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) last year showed a significant rise in the number of people who can be classified as "casual smokers."

Casual smoking is defined as smoking on many but not all days.

The CDC study attributes the rise in casual smoking to smokers who are cutting back on their smoking, going from smoking daily to only smoking some of the time. However, in the case of college students, casual smoking may be due to quite a different phenomenon.

It seems that casual smokers in college are those who only smoke at parties, or on the weekends. So I began asking students why they smoke.

"I know people who smoke cigarettes only at parties," claimed a freshman girl. "They're definitely not addicted or anything."

She went on to describe the fact that she usually smokes cigarettes after she's been smoking marijuana. "It calms me down when I'm high," she said.

This attitude is shared by many people. It seems like smoking is something that Hopkins students do when other people are smoking or drinking. It is perhaps a way to fit in, though no one said it outright.

The closest someone came to admitting this was one sophomore girl who doesn't drink. "When I'm at a party and other people are drinking, I feel like I should be doing something too," she said. So she'll smoke a few cigarettes while everyone else gets drunk.

The CDC study on casual smoking in the U.S. found that between 1996 and 2001, the number of people who smoked on some days rose in 31 states. The state with the highest rate of smoking was Kentucky, with more than 30 percent of adults smoking.

Although everyone does it, there are important health hazards that come with casual smoking. The excuse "I only do it sometimes," or "I'm not addicted" may not cut it anymore.

A study published in the journal Pediatrics last year found that even casual smoking during pregnancy can cause as much harm to a fetus as does crack or heroine. An affected infant will be jittery, excitable and hard to console.

Surprisingly, cutting your use of cigarettes in half does not significantly reduce your chances of getting smoking related ailments, such as lung cancer.

Even this news doesn't scare away many casual smokers. "I think it's fine," says an anonymous Phi Mu sister when I asked her about casual smoking. "I like to smoke when I drink."

The idea of casual smoking is not one that is found only at Johns Hopkins. A report by Minnesota National Public Radio found that 32 percent of college students are smokers, but most of these are occasional smokers.

An NPR report states that some people can get addicted to nicotine after smoking only five times, and this risk is increased for stressed out college students.

Worrisome to anti-smoking campaigners is that occasional smokers do not respond to anti-smoking campaigns since they do not even view themselves as smokers.

Whether or not they view themselves as smokers, students who occasionally smoke are facing health risks that they may not realize.

This should be a reason to reconsider their actions. If they do continue, it will become harder to quit over time, as their "occasional" smoking may turn into a habit without them realizing it.

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