Many have also banned e-cigarettes and other tobacco products Twice as many colleges and universities in the U.S. had smoke-free or tobacco-free policies in 2017 than in 2012, according to the CDC and American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation (ANRF). The vast majority of the 2,082 colleges and universities with anti-smoking policies as of November 2017 were tobacco free, meaning they had banned not only conventional cigarette smoking, but all other tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes and hookah use. Of the 1,743 (83.7%) smoke-free campuses that reported being tobacco-free, 1,658 (79.6%) specifically prohibited e-cigarette use in public and private spaces and 854 (41%) specifically prohibited hookah smoking, according to the report in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. "Over the last half decade, the number of smoke-free campuses has more than doubled in the U.S., from 774 to more than 2,000," lead author and CDC epidemiologist Teresa Wang, PhD, told MedPage Today. "The (campus) environment is particularly important because we know that nearly all cigarette smokers start before the age of 24. This is a really critical window for a public health intervention." Data on smoke-free and tobacco-free policies enacted as of November 2017 at colleges and universities were obtained from ANRF's College Campus Tobacco Policy Database, which is the only national repository of tobacco restrictions on college campuses in the U.S. College and university campuses were considered smoke-free if they completely prohibited smoking in all indoor and outdoor areas, and tobacco-free if they prohibited both smoking and smokeless tobacco product use in all areas. Those that explicitly prohibited use of e-cigarettes and hookah smoking were also noted. Campuses without smoke-free or tobacco-free policies were not included in the database, and the researchers did not have sufficient information to summarize the number of smoke-free campuses as a percentage of total U.S. campuses meeting the same criteria for those included in the database -- it's estimated there are upward of 5,000 total colleges and universities in the U.S. Findings were reported overall and by state and campus type (public, private, community, historically black, and tribal). Campuses could be categorized as multiple types. Among the main findings: A total of 1,616 public college and university campuses were smoke-free; 1,375 (85.1%) of these were tobacco-free; 1,373 (85.0%) specifically prohibited e-cigarette use; and 692 (42.8%) specifically prohibited hookah smoking Among the 448 private campuses with smoke-free policies, 350 (78.1%) were tobacco-free; 282 (63.2%) specifically prohibited e-cigarette use; and 159 (35.5%) specifically prohibited hookah smoking Among the 1,209 community college campuses with smoke-free policies, 1,066 (88.2%) were tobacco-free; 1,018 (84.2%) specifically prohibited e-cigarette use; and 459 (38.0%) specifically prohibited hookah smoking Among the 58 historically black college or university campuses with smoke-free policies, 42 (72.4%) were tobacco-free; 37 (63.8%) specifically prohibited e-cigarette use; and 28 (48.3%) specifically prohibited hookah smoking Wang noted that the dramatic increase in campuses with smoke-free policies coincided with the Tobacco-Free College Campus Initiative -- a collaboration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the University of Michigan, and the American College Health Association. Study limitations cited by the researchers included the possible inclusion of colleges and universities that have adopted smoke-free or tobacco-free policies, but have not yet implemented them, and lack of information on how rigorously the policies are enforced. "Previous research suggests that although tobacco-free campuses have increased in recent years, policy restrictiveness, implementation, and enforcement vary," they wrote. Source
