CAMPUS
Banned
An Irish university president has called for all campuses
to ban vaping “as a matter of urgency”
Words: Phoebe Fuller
In September, the University of Limerick president Dr Des
Fitzgerald called for all university campuses – and other
educational institutions in Ireland - to ban vaping.
According to a University press release, Dr Fitzgerald believes
that vaping is an “urgent health risk for students in particular”
and says that banning vaping on campuses is a “matter of
urgency.”
But Alicia Maher, a PhD student at the Irish university, says
that the vaping ban has had little effect on students vaping on
campus and says she thinks that the ban is a mistake.
She said: “I was very disappointed when I heard about the
vaping ban as I vape medical cannabis for chronic pain.
“Banning vaping and e-cigarettes is not advancing public
health, it’s merely a reaction to media sensationalism.”
Alicia says that as e-cigarettes and tobacco cigarettes aren’t
the same, vaping should be exempt from campus smoking
bans and people need to be aware of the differences between
the two.
“E-cigarettes aren’t completely risk free but carry a fraction of
68 VM26
the risk of smoking and are helping thousands of smokers to
quit and stay smoke free.
“There’s also the issue of denying patients the right to using
their medication on campus, if vaporised medical cannabis
has been prescribed by their doctor,” Alicia says.
For Joe Dunne, spokesperson for Vape Business Ireland, Dr
Fitzgerald’s plea to Irish universities is the symptom of an anti-
vape attitude in Ireland, generally.
He says: “As soon as a bit of negative vaping news comes to
Ireland everyone’s on it; yet when the report came out saying
that the cases of ill health in America were caused by THC,
that didn’t even make the newspapers.
“So, we’re fi ghting a very tough battle here in relation to vaping
and people jumping on the bandwagon whenever they see any
negative story.”
Joe also doesn’t believe that a campus ban will stop students
from vaping, as he regularly sees people flouting no-smoking
rules at campuses and hospitals so anticipates the same will
happen with vaping.
“At the end of the day, university students are not stupid,” Joe