Thursday is The Great American Smoke Out and as a part of the smoke out, Kentucky’s two largest universities are going smoke free.
Smoking bans are now in place at the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky.
One quarter of UofL students light up. While UK has a ban in place on all tobacco products, UofL has banned smoking on campus except in designated areas.
In an effort to create a healthier campus, UofL has started the process to become smoke free and the campus will be completely smoke free by November 2010.
According to the national cancer institute, smoking harms nearly every organ of the body. And, smoking can cause an abnormally high heart rate and high blood pressure as well as other diseases like cancer. .
Information booths will be set up on campus and free nicotine patches or gum will be given to students and workers who take classes to stop smoking.
Free nicotine patches and quit kits will also be given out at Ivy Tech Community College in Sellersburg, Ind. from 8 to 11 a.m. and Fulton Terrace Community Resource Center in Jeffersonville, Ind. from 9 to 11 a.m.
