Hiring Smokers Banned In South Florida City

Penurious Penguin writes "On October 2, City Commissioners of Delray Beach finalized a policy which prohibits agencies from hiring employees who use tobacco products. Delray Beach isn't alone though; other Florida cities such as Hollywood and Hallandale Beach, require prospective employees to sign affidavits declaring themselves tobacco-free for 12 months prior to the date of application. Throughout the states, both government and businesses are moving to ban tobacco-use beyond working hours. Many medical facilities, e.g. hospitals, have implemented or intend to implement similar policies. In some more-aggressive environments referred to as nicotine-free, employee urine-samples can be taken and tested for any presence of nicotine, not excluding that from gum or patches. Employees testing positive can be terminated. Times do change, and adaptation is often a necessary burden. But have they changed so much that we'd now postpone the Manhattan project for 12 months because Oppenheimer had toked his pipe? Would we confine our vision to the Milky Way or snub the 1373 Cincinnati because Hubble smoked his? Would we shun relativity, or shelve the works of Tolkien because he and C. S. Lewis had done the same? If so, then where will it stop?"

Comments

Re:Make it illegal

[YttriumOxide]

There's been a general adoption of the belief that cigarettes are incredibly addictive, as part of the campaign against smoking, and I think that has had a very detrimental effect. When somebody is told everyday that quitting smoking is nearly impossible, it becomes harder. After all, stopping smoking is, in great portion, a psychological struggle, and preconceptions will color that strongly.

If people had been raised with the idea that any idiot can quite smoking if they want, it would be much easier to stop. In fairness, though, that might lead to more people taking up the habit in the first place. Regardless, the psychological arena is the one area where perception can become truth.

In fairness, I agree with the AC. Two weeks is not long enough to say that I've really "quit" yet - only stopped for the moment.

I am still suffering from extreme cravings from time to time and lesser cravings more frequently in between.

The campaign against smoking tells many lies; but the addictiveness of cigarettes is not one of them - or at least, not in all aspects. Nicotine is incredibly addictive, however not in the way most people think of addiction. It's not that smoking once or twice will get you addicted - it won't (usually). But smoking becomes "easier" once you get used to it, and after long term use, you eventually will find yourself addicted.

As a young teenager, I smoked a cigarette per DAY sometimes. There's no way I was addicted, and I could have easily stopped any time I wanted. However, when I started smoking twenty a day, I'd find myself becoming fidgety if I didn't have a cigarette every hour or two. That's when I was starting to become addicted.

There are a lot of lies told about quitting as well. The most common one I hear is "after 3 days, all of the nicotine is out of your system, and it's purely psychological after that - there is no more physical addiction."
The problem with this statement is that it's half true. Generally speaking the nicotine is out of your system in about 3 days. However this does NOT mean the physical symptoms are gone. Sorry for quoting from Wikipedia, but it's easier than typing it all up myself:

Modern research shows that nicotine acts on the brain to produce a number of effects. Specifically, research examining its addictive nature has been found to show that nicotine activates the mesolimbic pathway ("reward system") – the circuitry within the brain that regulates feelings of pleasure and euphoria.

Dopamine is one of the key neurotransmitters actively involved in the brain. Research shows that by increasing the levels of dopamine within the reward circuits in the brain, nicotine acts as a chemical with intense addictive qualities. In many studies it has been shown to be more addictive than cocaine and heroin. Like other physically addictive drugs, nicotine withdrawal causes down-regulation of the production of dopamine and other stimulatory neurotransmitters as the brain attempts to compensate for artificial stimulation. As dopamine regulates the sensitivity of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors decreases. To compensate for this compensatory mechanism, the brain in turn upregulates the number of receptors, convoluting its regulatory effects with compensatory mechanisms meant to counteract other compensatory mechanisms. An example is the increase in norepinephrine, one of the successors to dopamine, which inhibit reuptake of the glutamate receptors, in charge of memory and cognition. The net effect is an increase in reward pathway sensitivity, the opposite of other addictive drugs such as cocaine and heroin, which reduce reward pathway sensitivity. This neuronal brain alteration can persist for months after administration ceases.

A very relevant sentence is that last one - "This neuronal brain alteration can persist for months after administration ceases.". That is the "physical addiction" that remains and does so for quite some tim