Hiring Freeze on Smokers

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.

Academic Failure and Tobacco Use

There are lots of scientific studies out there to support the notion that the more poorly educated in the world are more likely to smoke. It seems the more education you have, the less likely you are to be a smoker. Therefore, it seemed only natural to research how smoking adolescents fair in school compared to their non-smoking counterparts.

The Journal of School Health published a study that looked at academic success (or failure) of 10 to 16 year old government school students in India. They defined academic failure as having to repeat the same grade level once or twice. The study included over 6,300 students between 2004 and 2006.

The researchers found a significantly greater failure rate amongs students who used tobacco versus those who were nonusers. Tobacco users included those who chewed tobacco and smoked cigarettes and/or bidis. So students who reported tobacco use in 2004 were much more likely to fail a grade by the year 2006, than those who did not use tobacco products.

This brings up the question: does smoking make you more likely to fail academically or do poor performing students just so happen to smoke? Very much a chicken or the egg argument, I know. But certainly a matter that needs further investigation. While we're thinking about this, ponder these smoking facts.

Is Pipe Smoking Safer?

When I was a kid, my dad smoked Kent brand cigarettes. I remember seeing them on top of the refrigerator, right behind the Hostess Cupcakes. My parents always put the stuff we weren't supposed to get into on top of the frig. But we kids had a way to get into the cupcakes. One swift slide of the kitchen chair across the linoleum and our treasure was secured.

But we knew better than to get into Dad's cigarettes. They were simply "not for the kiddos" and everyone in my family knew that. There was a time though, for about 4 years in the late 1970's, when my dad began to dabble in the pipe smoking world. I'm not sure why, other than he probably thought it was sophisticated. I'm not sure why half the stuff done in the seventies was done, but I guess that's for historians to figure out.

Anyway, he kept the pipe paraphernalia in the den near the liquor cabinet (another seventies iconic image). This was much easier to get around. My sister and I would open the package of tobacco and fill our senses. It felt kind of strange but smelled really good. We then took the pipe apart to see if we could put it back together again. We would even break out the pipe cleaners and get that thing sparkling inside and out. It was an odd attraction we had, but we knew not to light it up. I once asked my dad why he smoked it. He gave two responses. For one, he said the taste was better than the cigarettes and two, he said it wasn't as bad for him.

The novelty of the pipe eventually wore off, like the lime green liesure suits, and it started to collect dust in the corner of the den. Forty years later, we now have an interesting study in Tobacco Control that evaluated the health consequences of pipe smoking. They looked at the risk of dying from all smoking-related illnesses in men who daily and exclusively smoked a pipe. They also looked at a group of people who were converted to exclusive pipe smoking away from cigarette smoking. They compared these groups to a reference group of never smokers.

I wonder if you, the reader, can guess what researchers found? I'm sure you can. As you'd expect, their conclusions were that no significant differences in mortality were found between pipe and cigarette smokers. Those who switched from cigarette to pipe smoking, had the same risk as cigarette smokers for any cause mortality and the specified smoking-related diseases.

So as it turns out, I guess my dad smoked a pipe for only one reason, the taste. I wish he were still alive so I could tell him. Now there may be someone out there saying, well, what about water pipes? Doesn't the water filter out the bad stuff? I don't have the time to go into this now, but trust me, water pipes are not safer. This is a case where the equipment looks real cool and the process of smoking it looks cool, even a little taboo or exotic, but the consequences are the same.

Moral of this story, and if I may paraphrase from SNL's Frankenstein's monster, "Smoking Baaaaaaaad!"

What is Lobelia

Lobelia is a plant that was used by Native American Indians to treat respiratory conditions like asthma. This is sometimes called Indian tobacco. Interestingly, it is also called puke weed because of its medicinal use to induce vomiting in the 1800s. Once a plant like this makes it into the medicinal world, it tends to stay there. People hope to find other uses for the plant and in fact, today, some people use lobelia as part of their asthma treatment plan. They feel it helps to remove phlegm from the upper airways of the lung.

Like many of the "natural" treatments seen on the market today, Lobelia was used in the latter 1900s as a nicotine substitute. However, the FDA reported that products containing this plant extract were no more effective in helping people quit smoking than quitting cold turkey. This puts Lobelia in some good company as there are currently several products marketed as natural stop smoking agents that fair no better than it did in the early 1990s.

Researchers are now giving Lobelia another chance. They feel its active ingredient, lobeline, may reduce the amount of dopamine produced in the body, which is the pleasure feeling seen with nicotine addiction. No studies have been conducted thus far, to determine how lobeline affects the production of dopamine, but they feel it may be able to play some kind of a role in its management.

Users of this natural product must exercise care, as the idea that more is better, just isn't true. Lobelia has a potentially toxic side, and can be safely used in small doses only. Once the dosing becomes larger, then you may see a wide range of side-effects that may include something as simple as a dry mouth to seizers and coma. This is why lobelia must be used under the direction of a medical doctor. Unfortunately, these natural substances are usually not prescribed by physicians, but rather available OTC at health marts and nature stores. Lobelia should never be given to children as there are just no studies to tell us what might happen.

Lobelia can be given as a capsule, dry herb for teas or liquid extracts. Lobelia should be avoided if you have liver or kidney disease, seizure disorder, dyspnea (shortness of breath), heart disease or high blood pressure. Pregnant and breastfeeding women should not take lobelia.

Since nobody really knows how it may interact with many other medications, it should not be taken if you are currently taking nicotine replacement therapy, chantix, zyban or other anti-depressant or anxiety agents. Also, if you are smoking or using the alternative electric cigarettes, you should avoid this herb.

So much like other natural smoking remedies that promise an easy quit to smoking, don't believe the hype. Although there is some future promise from this extract, it still remains unclear as to how it can be best used and under what circumstances will it offer the best results. I'd say you're better off with one of the more traditional front line methods or at least check with your physician to work out a plan that fits your personality, habits and nicotine addiction.