NJIT is going Smoke Free!

Smoke-free campus policies protect the health and safety of students, faculty, staff, and visitors by eliminating secondhand smoke on campus. Everyone will breathe easier, and this will assure equal access for individuals most vulnerable to the effects of secondhand smoke exposure, such as those with asthma and allergies. Additionally, by adopting a 100% smoke-free policy, NJIT will:

• Promote clean air, a healthy environment, and healthy behavior choices
• Prepare students for smoke-free work environments (e.g., hospitals, K-12 schools, etc.)
• Prevent students from initiating smoking
• Encourage tobacco users to quit or decrease use
• Support those who have already quit using tobacco

Many colleges and universities find that they do not need to enforce the policy if they encourage compliance through educational campaigns and social enforcement.

"Social Enforcement" refers to the establishment of a broadly shared norm and value within our community. Members of the NJIT community may externally maintain the smoking policy by engaging in direct, honest and supportive communication. NJIT will neither encourage nor tolerate hostile interpersonal conduct related to the  social enforcement of this policy.

The new Smoke and Tobacco-Free campus policy applies to all university spaces indoor and outdoor, including parking lots and private residential space. The new policy applies to all NJIT facilities, whether owned or leased. New Jersey state law already prohibits smoking in all indoor areas within 25 feet of public buildings (including colleges and universities), and in all state-owned vehicles.

NJIT encourages that all individuals consider their safety while on or off campus. Options such as the nicotine patch, gum, lozenge, nasal spray or inhaler are options that can be considered to meet nicotine needs without leaving campus and putting yourself at any risk. 

At the federal level, the Controlled Substances Act criminalizes the growing and use of marijuana. As a controlled substance, use and possession of marijuana are also prohibited by the Conduct of Code and is not permitted on campus. In addition to being a federal offense under the act, the use of medical marijuana in the workplace and on campus is restricted by federal laws which require the University to prohibit the use of marijuana on campus.

E-cigarettes have become increasingly popular, though much about the risks associated with them is unknown. E-cigarettes are typically small, battery-powered vaporizers. The act of inhaling triggers a sensor that causes a tiny heating element to heat up the nicotine cartridge inside, turning the contents into an odorless vapor. E-cigarettes create no second-hand smoke, which has added to their popularity. In addition to the different flavors, cartridges come in varying levels of nicotine and some come without nicotine. E-cigarettes containing cannabis products are also increasingly popular and often indistinguishable from a nicotine-containing product.

Even though many users state that e-cigarettes have helped them reduce or quit smoking traditional cigarettes and helped to reduce their nicotine addiction, there is currently little evidence that e-cigarettes can help you quit smoking.

Aside from being addictive, nicotine itself is toxic to humans. The nicotine vapor in e-cigarettes may send a more concentrated dose of nicotine into e-cigarette "smokers” bodies. Choosing a lower- e-cigarette isn't necessarily a reliable solution for decreasing nicotine intake. FDA tests found that similarly labeled e-cigarette cartridges released widely varying levels of nicotine per puff and that even cartridges labeled as nicotine-free still contained nicotine. Another concern is that e-cigarettes contain a chemical called propylene glycol, which is also used in anti-freeze. The short-term and long-term consequences of inhaling this chemical have yet to be determined.

Designated smoking areas have many disadvantages. A study from Stanford University found that in outdoor designated areas with multiple smokers, levels of toxic air contaminants from secondhand smoke may be the same or higher than indoors, therefore, creating a hazardous environment to individuals standing in or around these areas.

Additionally, secondhand smoke is proven to travel outside of designated areas; distance depends on wind strength and direction. Designated areas have also been found to encourage tobacco use by creating a social environment for daily and non-daily tobacco users. By increasing the number of individuals smoking in one area, students are more likely to believe that more people smoke than actually do. This misperception affects the norm of smoking on campus and may also contribute to increased tobacco use. Finally, designated areas are often heavily littered and smell of toxic tobacco waste.

To date, more than 600 colleges throughout the United States have successfully adopted 100% smoke-free policies.

Exposure to secondhand smoke is known to cause death and disease and is the third leading cause of preventable death in this country, killing over 50,000 non-smokers each year. The Surgeon General of the United States has concluded that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke and any exposure to tobacco smoke – even an occasional cigarette or exposure to secondhand smoke – is harmful. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found secondhand tobacco smoke to be a risk to public health, and has classified secondhand smoke as a group A carcinogen, the most dangerous class of carcinogen. 

The adoption of a 100% smoke-free policy promotes the health and well-being of everyone on campus, including employees. Currently, individuals who work in outdoor areas are not provided with the same level of protection to secondhand smoke as those working indoors. A 100% smoke-free policy will provide equal protection to everyone on campus. Additionally, the proposed policy may support those smokers who would like to quit as well as those individuals who have already quit smoking.

No. There is no Constitutional right to smoke or use tobacco. Tobacco users are not a category protected under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, nor is tobacco use a protected liberty right under the Due Process clause of the Constitution.

Hookah pipes (also known as water pipes, shisha) have a reputation for being the lesser of evils when it comes to smoking options, and from certain perspectives, this is true. Smoking a hookah doesn't have to mean smoking tobacco or taking in nicotine, which are common substances associated with smoking. But hookah smoking does have its own dangers such as combusted charcoal which carries health risks even when non-tobacco shisha is used.

When charcoal is burned to create the hookah effect, it releases chemicals in the process, namely carbon monoxide (CO) and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). In addition to inhaling byproducts of the shisha, waterpipe smokers also inhale fairly large quantities of these combustion-related toxins, a hidden health risk associated with hookah smoking, even for non-tobacco shisha.

One recent study found that in a typical hookah smoking session, participants inhaled more carbon monoxide than someone who smokes a pack or more a day of conventional cigarettes. Some studies have shown that a person inhales 100-200 times more smoke (by volume) during a typical one hour hookah smoking session than when smoking one cigarette – because the hookah smoke is cooled by water, it can be inhaled more deeply and held for a longer length of time. While hookah tobacco (or non-tobacco shisha) can be bought with very trace amounts of nicotine, or even be tobacco-free, most hookah devices are solely designed for charcoal burning to be the mechanism of inhalation. Tobacco tends to burn more slowly than many of the fruit and molasses contents in non-tobacco shishas. And so, while it may be true that you aren't inhaling tobacco smoke, the sustained burning of the charcoal carries the risk of extended exposure to these chemicals. Even at low levels of exposure, both CO and PAH have corrosive and carcinogenic properties, just like most combustion by-products.

Yes. The use of all tobacco products, including smokeless tobacco products like chewing tobacco and snuff, is prohibited on all university property or in university vehicles.

Yes. Organizers and attendees at public events, such as conferences, meetings, public lectures, social events, cultural events, and sporting events using university facilities are required to abide by the Smoke and Tobacco-Free campus policy. Organizers of such events are responsible for communicating the policy to attendees.

There is no association between the adoption of a 100 percent smoke-free campus policy and a decrease in student enrollment. In fact, many colleges and universities promote a healthy and smoke-free campus environment as a way of increasing enrollment.

Kindly refer to the links at the top of our page for both quitting lines as well as educational resources. We are also very proud to offer additional wellness resources for all students, faculty and staff to promote wellbeing, build up our community and lower stress.