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Smoking ban defied at universities
He has no plan to quit smoking. He said he should have the freedom and right to enjoy his cigarettes. "As long as I do not smoke in the presence of babies, children and pregnant women, I do not find anything wrong with smoking in the campus," Mr Leung said.
"There are many open areas in the
campus. The smoke can be diffused
easily without causing any troubles to
others."
Daniel Persson, an exchange student
at the Chinese University of Hong Kong,
has been smoking since he was 14. He
said new smoking ban did not mean
anything to him at all.
"I have to smoke whenever I want to,"
Mr Persson said. "Those signs are never
effective to me. They are like invitations
to smoke."
"Smoking ban may be able to help
people who have not started smoking, but
can never stop a man who has been
smoking for 14 years. It won't do
anything for people who already smoked.
"Just like me, I need my cigarettes. If
I do not have them, I will be irritated and
grumpy," he said.
Even some university teaching staff
are opposed to the smoking ban on
campus.
Thomas Lee Hun-tak, a professor of
linguistics at the Chinese University who
has smoked for 30 years, said it was
understandable why the smoking ban
failed to make addictive smokers quit the
habit.
He got the habit while studying in the
United States, as it was common for
students and teachers to smoke even in
lessons at the time, he said.
"I would not consider quit smoking
even though the government has imposed
the smoking ban. Smoking can help me
think and concentrate on my work.
Smoking with friends often helps me to
communicate and relax," Professor Lee
said.
"University is supposed to be a place
where we embrace diversity and accept
different cultures, including the smoking
culture," he said.
The professor said imposing the
smoking ban in the whole campus
contradicted the principle of diversity and
disrespected the rights of the minority. It
should be up to the students or staff to
decide whether they smoke.
"I do not see the reasons for imposing
such a policy," he said.
Pauline Kan, health education officer
of the Chinese University, said it was not
surprising that the smoking ban was
ineffective in stopping students or
professors from smoking.
"Motivation is the key to whether one
can quit smoking or not," she said.
Ms Kan said cigarettes became
people's buddies when they had been
smoking for a long time. "They smoke
when they are happy and unhappy, like
sharing emotions with friends. This makes
them very hard to quit smoking," she said.
Daniel Persson says he will not quit smoking despite the smoking ban.