ADDRESSING E-CIGARETTE POLICY AND USAGE ON THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA CAMPUS

Abstract

E-Cigarettes were introduced as an alternative to smoking and entered the American market in 2007. A decade later, 3.6 million middle and high school students were using e-cigarettes. Most important to the University of Arizona community, 14.3% of undergraduate students have reported using an e-cigarette at any point within 30 days. While the full health effects of using e-cigarettes remains unknown, mounting evidence suggests that they are no better than cigarettes. Further, rather than serving as an “healthy alternative” to traditional tobacco products, e- cigarettes serve as a gateway to smoking. Regulation of e-cigarettes occurs at both the federal and state levels. Within Arizona, there is a law restricting youth access to e-cigarettes, however, there are no Arizona laws that define e-cigarettes, tax e-cigarettes, define product packaging of e- cigarettes, or require licenses for retail sales of e-cigarettes. To partially address this lack of oversight, the University of Arizona has implemented campus policies concerning e-cigarette and vaping (Policy SA-301, enacted February, 2017). In this report, I review these policies and make recommendations to better position the University of Arizona as a healthy, tobacco-free environment. In an attempt to understand how current policies are regulated at the University of Arizona, and to discuss potential improvements on these policies, I requested a meeting from every college on campus, the UA President, the Provost, UAPD, Housing, and the Dean of Students office. I held meetings with the Honors College, Housing and Residential Life, College of Pharmacy, College of Public Health, and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The results of these meetings include updated procedures during residential life meetings, inclusion of e-cigarette policy and prevention information during new student orientation, and increased marketing on campus to increase awareness on the policies concerning e-cigarettes.