PULLMAN, Wash. – Effective fall semester, smoking and other nicotine use will no longer be permitted on Washington State University’s Pullman campus and other WSU facilities in Whitman County, and a variety of programs and resources are already available to students and employees looking for help in kicking the tobacco and nicotine habit.
The new policy, which takes effect on August 22, requires that all tobacco and nicotine products be secured, extinguished and/or disposed of prior to entering WSU Pullman property or exiting private vehicles on the Pullman campus.
Currently enrolled students who have paid their student health fee have the option of participating in a tobacco cessation program offered through WSU Health & Wellness Services. The program provides smoking cessation counseling services and nicotine replacements (gum, patches, or lozenges) at no charge to students participating in ongoing tobacco cessation counseling.
Those enrolled in the cessation program attend a series of weekly appointments that help them explore other options for quitting tobacco use, improve their motivation for quitting the use of tobacco products. Students interested in participating in the program can call Health & Wellness Services Monday through Friday between 8a.m. and 5p.m. at 509-335-3575.
Additionally, all WSU employee medical plans now cover tobacco cessation medications as preventative care, covering the cost in full when prescribed by the employee’s physician. Both Group Health and Uniform Medical Plans offer tobacco cessation programs through the Quit for Life Program. It provides phone counseling, online resources, and nicotine replacement therapy. Kaiser offers its Breathe tobacco cessation program for its members.
A wide range of resources are also available for WSU Departments helping to implement the new policy on the WSU Pullman campus. Those include the Spokane Regional Health District, accessible online at srhd.org; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, accessible online at betobaccofre.hhs.gov; The Center for Tobacco Cessation, accessible online at www.ctcinfo.org; The National Tobacco Cessation Collaborative, accessible online at www.tobacco-cessation.org.
The move to a tobacco and nicotine-free Pullman campus began in the spring of 2014, when undergraduates passed a ASWSU referendum supporting a tobacco and nicotine-free campus. Following the passage of the referendum, then-President Elson S. Floyd formed a WSU Tobacco Free Advisory Task Force to determine the number of tobacco-free college campuses nationally and to gather additional feedback from employees, and graduate/professional students. The Task Force found that there are more than 1,500 smoke-free campuses in the United States, and more than 1,000 of those were tobacco-free. In addition, a majority of the employees, and graduate/professional students also indicated they wanted a tobacco and nicotine-free campus.
The WSU Spokane campus became tobacco free in May 2012, and WSU Vancouver became a tobacco free campus in December 2013. WSU Tri-Cities is not presently tobacco free, but is in discussion with employees, and students about becoming one.
News contact:
Robert Strenge, WSU News, 509-335-3583, rstrenge@wsu.edu
