A recent NY Times article pointed out that many hospitals are no longer considering smokers as appropriate job applicants for their businesses. The article states that job applications have been changed to provide warnings which outline their "smoke-free hiring" practices. In fact, they go on to say that employees caught smoking or having positive laboratory tests for nicotine, will face termination. Apparently, the job of maintaining a smoke-free workplace is challenging for these entities.
From my own experience, my former hospital became a smoke-free campus. This required employees to clock-out and walk off campus to smoke. When this occurs, their services are no longer available for their job of taking care of patients. I was always troubled by the potential for a poor response time to a patient's need because their nurse, tech or therapist was off campus smoking. As a manager, I was also troubled by the fact that many of the employees did not clock-out to smoke their cigarettes off campus.
As a result of this new hospital policy, many of the smoking employees simply found little hideaways on campus to do their business. So, I can see why some hospitals would move on to the next level, which is to not even hire employees who smoke.
However, does this cause hiring discrimination. After all, tobacco is not a banned substance. It is not an illegal narcotic that will put you behind bars. I would think these policies will be vetted out in the courts. But it does lead to a good question, which is "Why are some drugs illegal, while others are legal?".
Lets look at illicit drugs. Why are they illegal? Is it because they kill people and cause great physical and mental harm? Sure, probably. Is it because they cause great financial harm to people and society? Again, probably.
Okay then, lets look at tobacco. Does it kill people and cause great physical and mental harm? You bet. I would argue it creates even more than all the illicit drugs put together. Does tobacco cause great financial harm to people and society? Again, the answer is absolutely yes! The healthcare costs are in the billions every year. Not to mention all the lost productivity due to illness.
So can someone explain to me why tobacco is a legal substance? Don't worry, I already know the answer. It has been grandfathered into our culture because it was a primary cash crop when our country was founded. So it gets a free ride. If we were to follow the example of alcohol and prohibition, we can see what would possibly happen if it were made illegal. There would be an explosive black market and crime would likely increase more than one hundred-fold.
So, we're left with a less than perfect system of lost productivity, disease and financial strain on our economy - all thanks to our founding fathers.
