Smokers at Otago Polytechnic will not be left to struggle on their own when the Dunedin and Cromwell campuses go totally smoke-free next month.
The institution has chosen May 31, World Smokefree Day, to introduce a total ban on smoking anywhere on the campuses, it was announced yesterday.
Student and staff smokers would not be abandoned but encouraged to give up, media manager Mike Waddell said yesterday.
They would be offered literature and support and might be given aids such as nicotine patches.
"We will be trying to make it as easy as possible for them to give up.
We don't expect them to go cold turkey".
The polytechnic's current smokefree policy bans smoking inside buildings and within 10m of buildings.
The new policy would reflect the polytechnic's commitment to providing a positive, healthy learning environment, chief executive Phil Ker said in a statement.
"We teach sport, adventure, health and wellbeing, and aim to live our organisational ethic of doing the right thing. Having a smoke-free environment is an outward expression of the values we believe in."
An estimated 5000 New Zealanders died from smoking-related illness each year, with Maori disproportionately represented in the total, he said.
"Given our duties to all of our students and staff, and our particular obligations to youth and Maori, we have become increasingly conscious that tolerating smoking is not a neutral act; it is morally indefensible."
The move is supported by the Otago Polytechnic Students' Association executive committee, the Cancer Society and the Action on Smoking and Health lobby group.
