Should children be allowed to smoke cigarettes at school? Strange as it sounds, there was a time when senior educators in Ontario believed they should.
In 1985, given the overwhelming evidence of smoking’s harms, the Ontario Medical Association urged a ban on student smoking. According to a Globe and Mail article from the time, the OMA implored school boards across the province to stop children from “taking up demonstrably unhealthy lifestyles” and noted “the high personal health costs for children from smoking and involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke.”
