A recent survey of more than 7,000 Minnesota residents found that the state’s adult tobacco use has decreased during the past 11 years, and that trend is reflected at St. Thomas as well.

According to the 2010 Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey, smoking levels have decreased by 27.1 percent in Minnesota since 1999. Secondhand smoke exposure also has dropped 11 percent in the past three years.

Madonna McDermott, director of student health services and the wellness center, said tobacco use at St. Thomas has decreased as well, according to the 2010 Core Survey conducted by the Wellness Center. Since 2002, students who smoke at least three times per week have decreased 7.6 percent.

The results of the Minnesota survey could relate to Minnesota’s comprehensive smoke-free law, implemented in 2007. Data shown from MATS also shows that 87.2 percent of Minnesotans have smoke-free house rules. St. Thomas has smoke-free rules of its own.

According to the 2010 Undergraduate Student Handbook, smoking and chewing tobacco are prohibited in all buildings on the St. Paul and Minneapolis campuses, except for a limited number of smoking lounges on the St. Paul campus.

“On campus you’re supposed to smoke 50 feet away from the door, and you get yelled at if you smoke closer,” freshman Tara Schinke said.

Schinke, who recently quit smoking, said smoking outside is inconvenient because of the cold weather.

“Smoking takes you away from everything,” Schinke said. After making excuses to drive around in order to smoke, she said, her family eventually found out about her addiction.

“I always felt bad for always smelling like cigarettes around my dad,” Schinke said. “For me [quitting] is mostly about being able to spend more time with my family and friends.”

The survey results also show smokeless tobacco use is on the rise.

Freshman Andrew Alexander, who smokes about once every three days, said smokeless tobacco has become a convenient alternative for smokers during the winter.

“You can do it wherever you want, and it doesn’t really smell up the place either,” Alexander said. “So it makes it a lot more convenient, especially here in Minnesota.”

The high tax on cigarettes is another possible reason for the decreased number of smokers.

“A lot of my friends told me they either weren’t going to start smoking or they were going to quit smoking because for one, it was too expensive,” Alexander said.

McDermott said St. Thomas has a comparatively low number of individuals who smoke at least three times per week.

“The national college reference group has 14.8 percent, and the University of St. Thomas is 8.1 percent,” McDermott said.

Alexander, who recently transferred to St. Thomas from Louisiana State University, said he noticed a difference in the number of smokers between the two schools.

“Everybody smokes all over the place down there [at Lousiana State],” Alexander said. “I’ll go out on a daily basis [at St. Thomas] and see maybe one or two people smoking … but its definitely not a big population like down at LSU. The smokers’ ratio is definitely higher down there than up here.”

Schinke said smoking is not promoted among the St. Thomas community.

“Whenever I was smoking around St. Thomas campus, people would give me looks like ‘You’re disgusting,’” she said. “[Quitting] hasn’t been that hard for me because you’re frowned upon. People don’t support it here.”

Student Health Services and the Wellness Center both provide resources to help prevent students from smoking.

“I’m very supportive of anything that can encourage folks to first of all, not to start, and those who have started to stop,” McDermott said. “In terms of helping folks here, I think one of the things that we do is we offer a free smoking cessation through the Student Health Service.”

Students also can pick up Quit Kits from the Wellness Center and schedule cessation appointments.

Schinke said the Quit Kit served as a helpful source of information but actually quitting took more initiative.

“It’s all about personal decision,” she said. “You have to want to do it, and you have to tell everybody. You have to tell everybody ‘I’m quitting now.’”

Rachel Britton can be reached at brit7192@stthomas.edu.