Hawkers for Camel cigarettes and other brands are a common sight at bars like Maloney's near UCLA, which caters to a college crowd. Promoters hand out free lighters and cigarettes in bars, clubs, fraternity events, and even on campus in exchange for scanning the patron's barcoded driver's license for their name, address, and age information.

In 2004, an American Journal of Public Health study found that students at 118 of 119 colleges had attended events sponsored by the tobacco industry. Industry representatives claim that they are only trying to get existing smokers to switch brands, but critics say the goal is actually to get casual smokers to become addicts.

Smoking is on the rise among 18-to-24-year-olds, even as it declines among other age groups. In 2004, the federal Centers for Disease Control reported that 28.5 percent of college-age youths smoked, up from 24.5 percent in 1990. Many students who entered college as nonsmokers began using tobacco while in school, research suggests.

Since 2002, California has required all tobacco promotional events to be registered with the state; in 2004, the industry ran 35,000 events in the Golden State alone. "It's a great way for them to promote their product while students' inhibitions are lowered by alcohol," said Tess Boley Cruz, an assistant professor of research in preventative medicine at the University of Southern California.

Camel maker R.J. Reynolds did not respond to requests for comment on its college marketing. But Philip Morris USA said it does not give out free samples and has a policy banning ads in college newspapers.

U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, on the other hand, is unabashed about sponsoring events at fraternities and hiring college students to give out samples. "The reason we have any presence there is because it's an adult environment," said Jon Schwartz, a company spokesman. "It's a legal practice, and we register events in states that require us to."

Some state-funded schools are using money from the 1998 tobacco settlement between the industry and states to fight back. In Pennsylvania, for example, schools can apply for $18,000 Students Working Against Tobacco grants. Some schools have banned cigarette sales in campus stores, or forbidden smoking in dorms or even in many outdoor locations on campus. Rather than focusing on the harm of smoking or using ineffective scare tactics, many college preventionists are emphasizing the advantages of not smoking.

However, said Cruz, "Colleges tend to regard it as a low priority because they find low smoking rates. But it may be that they're not paying close enough attention."

University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) students have worked to change the association between smoking and drinking by using volunteers with laptops to survey clubgoers about their attitudes toward allowing smoking in clubs. Usually, about 80 percent of respondents say they'd prefer a smoke-free environment, and the results are shared with club owners.

However, the founder of the UNLV program notes: "We won't go into bars or clubs if [tobacco industry] reps are present. We can't compete with them. They have more money and cooler stuff."

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