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Message from President Price, Chancellor Washington on Becoming a Tobacco-Free Campus

Use of all tobacco products now prohibited at Duke

As of July 1, 2020, Duke has become a Tobbaco-Free Campus.
Duke now prohibits the use of all tobacco-based products, including cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, hookahs, chewing tobacco, snuff, and electronic smoking devices such as e-cigarettes, vaping products, and IQOS.
Working@Duke Staff @workingatduke

To the Duke Community,

Today, Duke University officially goes tobacco-free. Use of all tobacco products, including smokeless products and e-cigarettes, is prohibited on all property and grounds owned and leased by Duke University.

This is an important milestone in Duke’s history. It marks our commitment to a healthier, more vibrant future. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in North Carolina and the United States, and it has been linked to significant complications in the treatment of COVID-19.

This week’s policy change was initially announced in July of 2018, and over the past two years, we have intensified our efforts to help students, faculty, and staff members quit using tobacco products. We provide effective, free or low-cost tobacco dependence counseling and medications for all Duke community members, including students, faculty, contract workers, and employees and their dependents. These efforts will continue in the months and years ahead, as we know that quitting is a hard road for many. But we are resolute in our commitment to the health of everyone who works, studies, visits, or lives on our campus, and this is a policy change that will benefit all of us.

Additional information about this new policy is available here. And as always, if you need help quitting, please consider taking advantage of the resources offered by Duke.

Very best wishes to every member of the Duke community.

Sincerely,

Vincent E. Price,
President

A. Eugene Washington, M.D.
Chancellor for Health Affairs, Duke University