Ohio higher education officials have voted unanimously to urge the state's
public campuses to ban use of all tobacco products, both indoors and
outdoors.
The Ohio Board of Regents' resolution approved comes after a review showed such policies help both smokers and nonsmokers and cut costs for education institutions. The recommendation will touch all campuses, including Ohio State, one of the nation's largest universities, which currently bans only indoor smoking. Although the decision to go tobacco free ultimately rests with the individual institutions, the Ohio Department of Health has developed information to help implement tobacco-free policies. Bans on the use, advertising and sales of tobacco are increasingly being enacted or considered nationwide, sometimes over the objections of student smokers, staff and faculty.
