The WSU Board of Regents’ decision last Friday to pass the ban against all forms of tobacco use on campus, while well-intentioned, will only throw fuel on the fire it seeks to extinguish.

The ban, set to take effect in fall 2016, prohibits the use of any tobacco or nicotine products on campus. The purpose of the ban, according to the board, is to discourage smoking among students both on and off campus.

However, it could accomplish just the opposite.

Social Science and Medicine recently published the findings of a review of more than 600 articles about stigmas related to smoking, led by a research fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

The stigmatization of smoking can lead to “relapses, increased resistance to quitting, self-induced social isolation and higher stress levels,” according to the authors of the review.

The anti-smoking movement in the U.S. has undoubtedly been a successful one as far as informing the American public about the consequences of smoking cigarettes.

At this point, it’s fair to assume the majority of college students who smoke are well aware of the negative impacts smoking has on their health. A ban on tobacco isn’t needed to inform students who smoke about what they most likely already know; instead, it further stigmatizes smokers and reinforces habit.

While the inconvenience caused by the ban might be enough to prompt some smokers to quit, the evidence indicates that it is more likely to decrease their chances of kicking the habit.

The ban also applies to e-cigarettes and vaporizers, which typically use liquid nicotine and are often described as a healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes.

E-cigarettes are being wrongfully lumped in alongside traditional cigarettes when it comes to second-hand smoke. Most e-cigarettes emit a mixture of water vapor and a chemical called propylene glycol, which is non-carcinogenic and harmless when inhaled.

Even if the ban seeks to curb smoking among students, including e-cigarettes under the umbrella of the ban is actually counterintuitive.

A recent Yale University study, published last month in the Journal of Health and Economics, found states that banned the use of e-cigarettes and vaporizers by people younger than 18 actually experienced an increase in traditional cigarette smoking among youths.

The findings of the study “provide the first causal evidence that e-cigarette access reduces teen smoking,” according to researcher Abigail Friedman.

Obviously every student should be encouraged to avoid tobacco use in any form. But banning e-cigarettes not only discourages smokers from seeking out a healthier alternative to cigarettes that presents little to no harm to innocent bystanders; it also makes them more likely to stick with traditional cigarettes that are much more harmful to themselves and others.

Cigarette use among young people has already been on the downturn for some time in the U.S. A 2014 report by the Center for Disease Control showed a decrease of more than 15 percent from 2011 in the number of high school students who reported smoking cigarettes in the last month.

Due to the success of the anti-smoking movement in the U.S., young people are more aware than ever about the dangers of cigarette use. If the goal really is to reduce smoking among students both on and off campus, WSU would be better off letting this trend continue to play out instead of enacting a policy that only stigmatizes smokers and reinforces their habit.

Russell Behrmann is a senior communication major from Bellevue. He can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of The Office of Student Media.