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Smoking ban defied at universities
The university's clinic has been
providing help for students and staff to
kick the habit. While the number of
people who asked for advice increased
after the ban was imposed, Ms Kan said
the participation rate of anti-smoking
talks was low and only one person
actually joined the clinic's plan to quit
smoking.
But she took it as a good start, as no
smoker had ever approached them for
help before. "It is a good sign after all,"
she said.
While anti-smoking education could be
an uphill battle, implementation of the
ban is also difficult, as smokers can
easily find "secret places" in the vast
campuses to smoke (see the list of secret
places).
Enforcement is made difficult by the
fact that university officers usually only
issue a warning or advice to the smokers.
A spokesman for the Chinese
University said security officers patrolled
the campus to help enforce the smoking
ban.
"If students or teachers are found
smoking in the campus, they will be asked
to leave the campus or extinguish their
cigarettes immediately," the spokesman
said.
Raymond Li Chi-man, project and
facilities manager of the communication
and public relations office at the Hong
Kong Baptist University, said his
university also depended mainly on the
security team and staff to keep an eye
on any violations of the ban.
"I don't think the enforcement is difficult. We only have extra work to handle and take care of," Mr Li said.
"If people are found smoking, they
will be warned by our staff," he said,
adding the smokers usually extinguished
the cigarettes immediately when they were
caught.
Sometimes, other staff may be
deployed to stop the smokers "in a polite
and gentle manner", he said.
The university has not reported any
cases of smoking ban violation to the
Tobacco Control Office so far, though it
keeps an internal record of the cases. Mr
Li declined to give any figures, but said
that the situation was not serious.
But there is no way for the
government to ensure the ban is being
carried out in universities. A spokesman
for the Health Department said when a
smoker on campuses refused to comply
with the ban despite exhortations,
security teams at universities could call
for the police or refer the case to the
Tobacco Control Office.
A survey by the Census and Statistics Department in 2005 estimated that there were 839,900 smokers in Hong Kong, accounting for 14.8 per cent of the population of those aged 15 and above. Of the smokers, 95 per cent smoked every day and about 17 per cent of the daily smokers were aged between 15 and 29.
