The Landmark total ban takes effect this week. All of North Carolina's public schools will be tobacco free by the end of the week, the culmination of a six-year effort by health advocates in the most tobacco-friendly states. Each of the states 115 school systems will have a policy banning smoking and all other tobacco use by anyone, anytime, anywhere on campus or at off-campus school events such as field trips and football games. Most school systems, including Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, adopted the policy in the last few years. The final holdouts did so this month to comply with state law requiring action by August 1 making North Carolina one of only a handful of states where all public schools will be tobacco free. North Carolina be being a tobacco state, is a beacon on the subject, said Joel Spivack of the Washington-based Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. Advocates hope the bans will result in fewer students taking up smoking and in a healthier working environment for school employees. The debate took place in each school system. In some cases, students organized anti-tobacco clubs and lobbied the local school board.  Statewide television ads, funded by the North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund, raised the profile of the campaign. The greatest challenges, organizers said, came in more counties where tobacco is still a dominant crop. There was resistance based on the historic economic connections to tobacco. We have had to overcome that, said Vandana Shah, executive director of the North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund, which receives part of North Carolina’s share of the 1998 national tobacco settlement. The North Carolina Association of Educators, the state's largest group of teachers and other school employees, supported the bans. Charlotte, Mecklenburg NC has been tobacco free since 2003, though earlier policies restricting tobacco use date to 1990. About 85 school systems had adopted the tobacco free policies by July of 07 when Gov. Mike Easley signed a law requiring the rest to do so by August 1, 2008. Among the last school systems to put bans into effect have been those in Lincoln County and Mooresville, though each already had a policy restricting tobacco use. Larry Wilson, vice-chairman of Mooresville School Board, said he's concerned about how well officials have been able to enforce the ban of events such as football games. I've been to other schools where they make an announcement we’re tobacco free and then you have somebody smoking in front of you, Wilson said. That sends a bad message to the kids. Some state lawmakers have the same worries. Rep. Carrie Allred an Alamance County Republican, filed legislation this year that would've allowed schools to continue setting their own policies, but the legislation never made it to a committee. The Alamance-Burlington School System was among the last to comply, and Allred said he heard complaints from constituents. A lot of people in my community felt let like it went too far, he said. Charlotte Mecklenburg spokeswoman Carmen Bray said CMS relies on the smoking signs and school resource officers to tell people to stop smoking. She said a violation could result in a citation or even an arrest, though neither has ever happened. The North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund provides signs at no cost to school systems and officers training for school officials. They say they're working on other ways to implement the bans. Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue chairman of the trust fund and the frequent public face of its tobacco free schools program called the states acceptance of increased tobacco regulation historic. And, she said, further regulations could soon follow. The ground is fertile, Perdue said. There is no longer any way to do for any concern about the back of being the death knell for public officers in the state.