Do you really care?

I have to laugh at the irony of it though.

One of the main reasons the county is not employing smokers is because of concerns about lost productivity.

Since when has productivity and government departments gone hand in hand? 


Well, if they can prove a link between obesity and rising medical costs and loss of productivity, then presumably they could be banned to.

Looking from afar, it is a pretty heavy handed policy and legal precedent being set. I doubt if something like that would ever get up in Australia. The difference being is that our employment laws are all federal whereas the US appears to be state???.

My personal opinion is that private businesses and non government businesses should have the right to hire whoever they want, or not hire whoever they don't want in this particular case. But as this is a government body, I think the circumstances change and they should be more accomodating of employees/potential employees than private businesses. Just my thoughts.

As said before, IMO an outright ban is an over reaction and they could have solved the problems with smoking workers other ways.

It is not set in stone though. All it needs is one smoker to take it to court, and for the court to overturn the previous 1995 ruling, and the whole policy is thrown out.

I was just trying to be funny. Nothing personal.

I actually like a lot of the people here, which is why I am still here. I know I am an obnoxious jerk, I freely admit it, but I am a well read obnoxious jerk.

Are either of you concerned about the future of the USA? Do you like the path the US is currently on? Do you see anything the people can do to change our current path?

Thank you for that inspirational reply.

I think you just killed my last shred of hope for the future of the USA.

You're my biggest apologist. Thank you.

And on this particular topic, I'm so burned out on smoking bans (get it?), that there's nothing left to say. On another forum I'm on, which isn't political and ten times the size of this, it's about 95% in favor with these kind of things. I've concluded that sometimes there's no point in fighting it.

While the smoking ban is a great example of our dwindling liberties, at least it is the states that are abusing power and not the FEDGOV.

Medical marijuana is an example of the FEDGOV trampling states rights. 12 states have passed legislation legalizing medical marijuana, yet the FEDGOV won't allow it.

WHY?

What are they afraid of?

ALL THINKING PEOPLE know that marijuana is harmless when compared to many prescription drugs. Compared to ozycontin it is nothing.

What could the FEDGOV possibly be afraid of?

////////

In the 14 years I've worked in marijuana law reform, few events have struck me as so needlessly tragic as the federal government's consistent and deliberate stifling of medical cannabis research. Nowhere is the Fed's refusal to allow this science more overt and inhumane than as it pertains to the investigation of cannabinoids as anti-cancer agents, particularly in the treatment of gliomas.

http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/86256/

FROM FOX News.......

 Cannabis may be bad for the lungs, but the active ingredient in marijuana may help combat lung cancer, new research suggests.

In lab and mouse studies, the compound, known as THC, cut lung tumor growth in half and helped prevent the cancer from spreading, says Anju Preet, PhD, a Harvard University researcher in Boston who tested the chemical.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,266715,00.html

FROM SCIENCE DAILY...

They say this is the first set of experiments to show that the compound, Delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), inhibits EGF-induced growth and migration in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expressing non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. Lung cancers that over-express EGFR are usually highly aggressive and resistant to chemotherapy.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070417193338.htm

Of course what is printed above is a LIE.

It is NOT the first study.

A study was done by the US government in 1974 and again in Madrid in

The term medical marijuana took on dramatic new meaning in February, 2000 when researchers in Madrid announced they had destroyed incurable brain tumors in rats by injecting them with THC, the active ingredient in cannabis.

The Madrid study marks only the second time that THC has been administered to tumor-bearing animals; the first was a Virginia investigation 26 years ago. In both studies, the THC shrank or destroyed tumors in a majority of the test subjects.

http://www.alternet.org/story/9257/

So, what is the government afraid of?

It appears they are afraid old people will live longer and collect more social security checks.

Irwin,

An excellent point.

Well done. The smoking ban is only the beginning of course. I doubt we will like this country very much if we are still around in 30 years.