Butterfly I am with you on this. Even if we don't have it in our family, I felt the same way when my husband was dieing I sat outside and saw doctors and nurses smoking and I had stopped for a week at that time and felt that if they worked in a hospital and still smoke then it can't be all that bad. I belive it is sending the wrong message to others around them if they work in medical and still smoke. Even behind closed doors it can be smelt on their breath and body. It does not look good at all. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/1/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 17 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 358 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $59.5 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 1 [B]Hrs:[/B] 6 [B]Mins:[/B] 40 [B]Seconds:[/B] 30

If I were still a smoker, I would be very upset and angry at being told what to do. And basically that is what is going on here. Being told you cannot do something. Something which is [b]NOT[/b] illegal nor immoral, people do it in public, at home, in their cars and still in some restaurants and coffee shops to this day. There is still somewhat of a social "acceptance" in regards to smoking. Before I hear all of the boos and hisses out there, it is dwindling, but it is there. As an example, you wouldn't [b]DARE[/b] drink on the job, but no one really says anything when you go out for a puff. Until that day comes where society as a whole frowns upon excessive smoking, like they do excessive drinking (think M.A.D.D. and the New Year's Eve blitzes against drinking and driving, etc) then we cannot force people to give it up, no matter how many "programs" are offered......we here ALL know that it is up to the individual to want to quit. My two cents, for what it is worth........ :p [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 12/19/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 27 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 412 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $182.25 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 2 [B]Hrs:[/B] 11 [B]Mins:[/B] 29 [B]Seconds:[/B] 38

Today, I received this letter as an employee of Floyd Memorial Hospital regarding the new anti-smoking ordinance going into effect on 7/1/06. We are hearing more and more about companies and organizations that are taking a tough stance on smoking. Some companies have now taken the position that they will not employ smokers, which includes random urine screening for enforcement. The major purpose of this stance is to lower their potential financial losses commonly associated with smoking-related illnesses. Many people will say that their rights are being violated. Some even go so far as to quit a job before being �forced� into quitting. I�m embarrassed to say that if I were still a smoker caught in the web of addiction, I might take the same stubborn position of refusing to be forced to quit. Joe saw this letter and commented on it this evening and my response was, �It�s a shame, isn�t it?� (tongue in cheek, of course and with an evil grin on my face). I never thought I would get to the point where I truly resent other people blowing smoke in the same space where I�m breathing, but I have. Nobody should have to be forced to consent to breathe second-hand smoke. I�m sorry�but every comment ever voiced by nonsmokers, that I snubbed in the past, is true! I would never berate a smoker, because I too have walked that path. However, I have become a staunch supporter of all anti-smoking legislation. I�m interested in hearing everyone else�s opinion on this. Please feel free to express yourself honestly. [b]January 11, 2006 Dear Floyd Memorial Associate: In mid-January, Floyd Memorial will join other local hospitals in signing an ordinance to make its campus tobacco-free in 2006. The ordinance will be signed in mid-January with the tobacco-free policy going into effect on July 1, 2006. Local hospitals committed to this endeavor include Floyd Memorial, Clark Memorial, Harrison County, Kings� Daughters� and Southern Indiana Rehab. This unified effort was made with the health of our southern Indiana residents in mind. Nationally, we are seeing more and more restaurants and public facilities adopting a smoke-free environment. It only makes sense for health care providers to adopt this same policy to protect the health and well-being of its patients, vis

We are just about to get a free vote in parliament to ban smoking in public places......it may well go through. I support the smokers right to smoke! But not where non-smokers are forced to suffer the second-hand smoke. Go outside, do it in your car, have a dedicated room or whatever, but please do not force children to inhale your smoke (in restaurants, public places etc). It's no different to speeding........coundn't care less about the ar**h**e doing 60 in a 30 limit past a school whilst drunk.....it's the child crossing the road that they hit that suffers. Brent [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 12/8/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 38 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 270 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �190 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 6 [B]Hrs:[/B] 10 [B]Mins:[/B] 39 [B]Seconds:[/B] 53

I applaud the companies that offer quit smoking programs even if they don't prohibit smoking. I find it strange that with all the anti-smoking campaigns there are very few programs being offered to help people quit smoking. I wish I could have checked into a rehab for a couple of weeks when I quit and I'll bet my family does too. :) It will be interesting when obesity surpasses smoking as the number one preventable killer. Do you think companies will have scales at the doors? [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 11/26/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 50 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,017 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $150 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 5 [B]Hrs:[/B] 5 [B]Mins:[/B] 32 [B]Seconds:[/B] 40

I know that in 100 years, maybe less, people will look back at this time and scratch their heads in wonderment about the fact that tobacco was legal and widely available--just like we do when we look back to the early 1900's in america when you could buy cocaine and morphine at the pharmacy. Smoking ordinances, however ham handed and clumsy (isn't all politics this way?) are just our attempt to formalize what we all intuitively and scientifically know--smoking kills. I'm still waiting for the indoor smoking ban to come to my town, if NYC and SF can do it--why can't the nations capital!!!??? bb :confuse: [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 10/3/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 104 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 835 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $312 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 15 [B]Hrs:[/B] 8 [B]Mins:[/B] 48 [B]Seconds:[/B] 25

When it comes to an employer having the right to choose what type of employees they hire then I say yes they do have that right as long as they do not discriminate. This whole thing can become very difficult when you start allowing employers to base their hiring on their own subjective views. For instance, lets say I'm an employer and I don't want to hire anyone who has children because studies show that they will be off work more to take care of their children when they are sick or when their childcare doesn't show up. Is that fair? Do I have that right to not hire them just because they have children? What about the employees I now have who might in the future want children. Can I fire them based on my hiring practices? You say this is far fetched. Not really. Everytime I have to get a temp to cover my absent employee it's costing me money and time. What I'm trying to say here is that what a person does away from their workplace is not the employers business as long as it's legal. Last time I looked, cigarettes were legal. Heroin, pot, cocaine and a lot of other drugs aren't legal, so testing for those by an employer is fair. After all do you really want your childs bus driver strung out on uppers as they take your children to school? I still say you cannot and should not try and legislate morality. I firmly believe that non smokers shouldn't be exposed to other's smoke, but I think we have to be sensible about this and not become the smoke nazis. Telling a person they cannot smoke in their home is wrong. They are making the mortgage payment and if they choose to light up it's their business. Now I do think they have an obligation to protect their children from second hand smoke and I must say I see that being done by more and more smokers everyday. This will always be a hot topic but the bottom line comes down to this. Where do we draw the line on how much government can dictate our lives. We as intelligent adults should know where to draw that line. Chances are if we wonder about a situation where we have to ask ourselves if it's ok to light up, then it's not. Thanks for letting me rant, lol. vicki just 1 puff away from 2 packs a day [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 10/17/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 91 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 3,663 [B]Amo

Pam I agree with Rusty. You need to read the posts. It is ok for their to be limits in the workforce. I said what people do at home is their business. I still believe that. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 10/17/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 92 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 3,688 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $644 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 12 [B]Hrs:[/B] 13 [B]Mins:[/B] 3 [B]Seconds:[/B] 44

It�s one thing for an employer to completely ban smoking from their premises. It is TOTALLY their right and something I applaud. However, what an employee does on their OWN time is their own business. Working in a smoke-free environment is NOT the same as having your employer dictate what you can or cannot do on your own time. An employer does NOT have a Big Brother right to test your urine or blood to try and discover what you�ve been doing on your day off. It�s a slippery slope and once your start down it, it has a tendency to snow ball. First it was testing employees for drugs, because we all know it would be impossible for supervisors to see for themselves if someone was so impaired they couldn�t do their job. Now it�s testing for nicotine, because of the employer�s touching concern for their employees� health, or is that touching concerns for their corporate wallet? What else are they checking? Are they checking to see if any of the female employees are pregnant, so they can be terminated before pregnancy costs surface? Will they start checking to see if all their employees are eating healthy? That�s certainly no different than testing for nicotine. Will you get fired from your job for supersizing those fries some day? If your employer is entitled to urine testing to determine your behavior, they should be entitled to follow you around on all your days off, just to be sure you won�t do anything they don�t like or don�t think is healthy. I guess it�s time for your boss to enforce that New Year�s resolution to get more exercise too. Miss your day at the gym? Too bad, you�re fired. Is it your employer�s business what you do 24/7? My privacy is sacred. It is nobody�s business what I do behind closed doors. It is certainly not an employer�s business to pry into anything I do off the job that is not job related. With that rant being spewed, these days I much prefer to frequent totally non-smoking venues. Though here in metro Atlanta, that�s not too hard to do as smoking has been pretty much banned from all indoor venues. However, I won�t spend my hard earned dollars with a business who believes it is their right to play Big Brother with their employees. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 10/19/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Da

VERY DIFFICULT!! I DONT THINK A SMOKER SHOULD BE PUNISHED FOR THERE ADDICTION I WOULD BE VERY UPSET IF I WENT FOR A JOB AND WAS TURNED DOWN BECAUSE I SMOKED,SO ARE THEY NOW ALOUD TO SAY "SMOKERS NEED NOT APPLY"WARE THEY ARNT ALOUD TO SAY NO BLACK/WHITES FAT/THIN GOOD LOOKING/UGLY! BUT WE KNOW ALL THESE THINGS PLAY A PART!!!! I KNOW A HOSSY NEAR ME HAS NOW SAID NO SMOKING IN ANY PART OF THE GROUNDS ,THEY ARE PUTTING IN A PROGRAM TO HELP THE SMOKERS QUIT IF THEY WANT TO BUT IF THEY DONT THEN ITS TUFF LUCK!! ITS GOT TO HAPPEN ,BUT YOU NOTICE ITS NOT THE GOVERMENT MAKEING THE CHANGES!!!!!!!!!!! WE WERE DUPED AS OUR PARENTS WERE, I DONT WANT MY AIMEE IN ON THIS ONE WHEN SHES OLDER ,THE LESS THERE IS OF IT THE LESS LIGHTLY THE KIDDS WILL DO IT. SORRY DIDNT MEAN TO GO ON! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 10/13/2005 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 94 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,366 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �371.3 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 9 [B]Hrs:[/B] 5 [B]Mins:[/B] 0 [B]Seconds:[/B] 46