Students react to Alabama's expansion of Clean Indoor Air Act
The Alabama Clean Indoor Air Act expanded to include vapes and e-cigarettes on Oct. 1.
The act bans smoking in public places, including theaters, restaurants and educational facilities. While lawmakers hope this extension of the act will create cleaner air environments, students around campus do not think the law will prevent people from vaping in public spaces.
“People are not going to stop because, like me, they probably do not even know it is a law,” said Kayla Burrell, a senior exercise science major from Marbury, Alabama, who has been vaping since her junior year of high school. “People do what they want at the end of the day, and if someone wants to hit their vape, they are going to, no matter where they are.”
For other students around campus, they feel like the law will be hard to enforce because they feel there are more important things for officers to worry about.
“I don’t believe it will get anyone to stop any time soon,” said Avery Broussard, a sophomore majoring in sports management from Atlanta, Georgia, who has been vaping for two years. “It is one of those laws where even officers believe that there’s worse stuff to worry about.”
While Brossard understands why the act was passed, he believes common courtesy should be extended if people choose to vape in public areas.
“I can understand why the law was put into place, but it is not really harming anyone,” Bro sard said. “I think for those who do smoke in public, they simply need to ask if anyone has any lung issues or anything like that.”
Health professionals warn against vaping because the long-term health risks are still not known, but it can present issues in the short term, even if the person is aware of the chemicals they are inhaling.
“Some of the vapes have caffeine in it,” said Jacque Chirico, a nurse practitioner at the Student Health Center. “We've seen people who have reactions to the caffeine and get tachycardia with the heart beating faster, dizziness and things like that.
“As far as long-term, we do not know. You are inhaling a chemical in a lot of the vapes.”
While health care professionals continue to warn about the potential long-term health risks and lawmakers hope to make cleaner air environments for Alabamians, Burrell said she thinks their effortswill not encourage smokers to quit the addictive practice.
“I don't think it’ll make people stop vaping because if you are addicted to something, you are going to continue until you decide to make a change, no matter what the law says,” Burrell said.
Businesses and organizations across the state will need to update their smoking policies and signage to reflect the expansion of the act. However, Troy University has been a smoke-free campus since 2012.
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