Pima County may vote to refuse to hire smokers

Arizona Daily Star ^ | December 05, 2014 | Mariana Dale

[Kackikat]

Do that openly and you will be sued for discrimination...so protect yourself.

[Ken H]

All sorts of risky behaviors that could cause both short and long term problems: bicycling in traffic, jogging, skydiving, scuba diving, motorcycles, smoking legal/illegal marijuana - to name a few. Why stop at smoking?

The Board of Supervisors will no doubt take that up at the next meeting.

[Gay State Conservative]

I have no problem with skydivers,race car drivers and people with a history of heart attacks paying more for life insurance than they would if they didn't skydive,race cars or have a serious heart history.

Twenty years working in an ER has shown me,in no uncertain terms,that those with a long history of smoking have *many* more health problems than those who don't.

[Dilbert San Diego]

You are right. Because homosexuals are a recognized grievance group, they would not be subjected to discrimination based on health risks.

But, if we are going to say smoking is so risky that we will refuse to hire smokers, so smokers will not be on a company health plan, then where will we draw the line???? There are other risky behaviors too. Not to mention, all the preexisting conditions. Will companies refuse to hire diabetics, or people with elevated blood pressure??

This is a slippery slope. Of course the liberals don’t think so because, #1 they think they are smarter than everyone else, and #2, they feel a sense of superiority to smokers. That’s part of what’s going on here too.

[Kackikat]

I’m not saying I disagreed, only that in this age of lawsuits one must be careful.

[Gingersnap]

But drinkers (including casual drinkers) are even more problematic to both health care workers and employers (as well as to society at large). The same can be said for women who become single mothers - the social cost is huge and the health care costs for that woman and her children are significant. Then we have the fat people who are even more inclined to health care issues.

Perfection is always the enemy of good. “Encouraging” people soon leads to demanding that people behave a certain way. When that fails (as it mostly does now), the demands become economic punishments. If the punishment works, then new, narrower demands are made.

Somewhere out there is the “perfect” lifestyle that neither burdens society nor gives offense to lifestyle moralists. The problem is that only robots have that lifestyle.