An on-campus anti-smoking advocacy group, Students Taking Action Against Nicotine Dependence, has released the results of a survey that they feel shows that their efforts on campus have been effective. The survey, funded with tobacco litigation money, reported an 11 percent decrease of reported student smokers, from 27 percent to 17 percent, according to the survey results, posted online. The survey also showed that respondents’ use of cigarettes had decreased in their daily or weekly usage, and that they reported less use of chewing tobacco or dip, cigars, bidi and cloves. More respondents reported that they had never smoked before, had allergies or sensitivities to tobacco smoke and expressed a desire for designated campus areas for smoking. The survey, conducted in May, surveyed over 1,100 students. The results were compared to a similar survey of about 620 students in May 2001. STAND, whose goal is to create a smoke-free campus, calls for better enforcement of current smoking policies. The organization said this process could be aided by new signage and the removal of ashtrays from doorways.The group acquired 1,400 signatures in support of banishing the sale of tobacco at Sacramento State, which convinced Associated Students, Inc. to pass a resolution implementing a ban. “I think if you smoke you’re going to smoke regardless of whether we sell tobacco on campus,” ASI Vice President Julio Velazquez said. The students clearly wanted it, so they had to comply, he said.Velazquez, who sits on the board for the CSUS Foundation, said the foundation recently divested themselves of tobacco investments they had held. Student Anthony Richards said he doesn’t think the absence of tobacco products is going to change people’s smoking habits. “People are just bumming them off of each other,” Richards said.Student Ryan Moore said the tobacco free policy wouldn’t have much affect on his tobacco habit. “I can go a whole day without dipping,” Moore said. Banning it from campus could have a negative effect for students, Moore said. “If students can’t get it, when they get into the classroom it’s all they’ll be thinking about.”Student Mario Escobar said he thinks the tobacco ban would help. “If you’re not seeing the ads and products at the student store you don’t think about it,” Escobar said.

-“If you take cigarettes away, non-smokers aren’t having to deal with the smoke,” said student Shawn Flores. “On the other hand, if people want to kill themselves, more power to them.”

-STAND’s adviser Cyndra Krogen provides one-on-one counseling to students who want to quit smoking.

-“The first step is to do a needs assessment to try and help them understand their smoking habit better and decide if they want help,” Krogen said.

-Krogen said she makes sure students they see get a quit kit: a water bottle filled with gum, honey sticks, mints, pictures of diseased lungs, literature and a bag to store the money they’ll no longer be spending on cigarettes.

-If they return, Krogen prepares them to quit by encouraging them to wait 10 minutes before lighting their cigarette, designating times and places to refrain from smoking and other methods.

-“The advantage to me is I have a lot of information and I’m a person outside of themselves to be accountable to,” Krogen said, whose goal is to free all students from tobacco addiction.

-Krogen related a story about a person who admitted that they had come close to smoking but didn’t because they didn’t want to have to tell her they had started again.

-“I do want students to know that I’m not here to reprimand them if they fall off of their program,” Krogen said. “I will prioritize counseling them for as long as they want to keep trying.”

-The results of STAND’s survey can be viewed at www.sacstand.org/survey.html.