Edinburgh University students stub out plan to ban cigarettes sales on campus

Published on Saturday 21 November 2009 10:19

STUDENTS at Edinburgh University have voted to keep cigarettes on sale on campus.

A motion was put before the annual general meeting of Edinburgh University Students Association which would have stopped EUSA shops from selling cigarettes and remove all cigarette machines on campus.

The motion, put forward by a fourth year medical student, argued that EUSA should not profit from, promote or help facilitate smoking. It would also have required the students association to promote services which provide support and advice to students who wished to give up smoking.

More than 700 students turned out for the AGM – the largest number for several years – filling the university's George Square lecture theatre and forcing organisers to set up a video link to another venue.

Rather than backing the motion, students voted for an amended motion that cigarettes should continue to be sold in shops and campus outlets, but not displayed.