I'm a pipe smoker, and I hate these rules, but ...
What do we expect? Our country has been waging a war on drugs for decades -- the only reason we've been exempted was because a huge majority of Americans used this particular drug (same for alcohol) for so long. Now that we're in the minority, we're going to be treated like other drug users -- the laws have NEVER been based on what harm a given drug does, but rather on those drugs that are politically unpopular at the time. And nicotine IS a drug, no matter how much we might like to pretend otherwise. Basically, why should we get special treatment?
The courts have already heard many of these cases, and have said that a private company has every right to not hire someone for having nicotine in their system (they can also refuse to hire someone with alcohol in their system, or illegal drugs). It's not considered discrimination because smoking is a choice we make ... unlike our race or gender, and it's not like anyone has argued that tobacco use is a religion. Is this the right thing for companies to do? Of course not, but the Republicans have made it clear that no one should be able to tell a business owner who they should hire -- when personal freedom affects their bottom line, freedom loses. And many Democrats want to protect us by legislating us out of existence. If freedom runs counter to their ideals of public health or safety, freedom loses. We're screwed from both directions here.
I think it's all garbage, but I also think all laws that target vice are stupid. We, the People, have decided that the government has every right in the world to tell us what we can do with our own lives -- we decided that a long time ago, and that decision is reflected in many policies (the government can tell us if we can smoke pot, use harder drugs like cocaine or alcohol, who we can or can't marry in many states, if we should wear seat belts or not -- heck, a woman can sleep around with everyone in town legally but the moment she decides she ought to be paid for it she's a criminal). In the face of that, what right do we have to ask for special treatment?
Personally, I'm focused on building a cellar that will last me. It's only a matter of time before our hobby is killed by taxes or legislation. And then I guess we just need to focus on being self-employed .... not that we'll be able to get health insurance or anything, as no private insurer will take us for much longer and the American people will never allow the government to let everyone obtain health insurance.
I don't want to be too much of a killjoy here, but we're getting exactly what we've asked for.
