Marlboro

Now, IТm sure all of you non-smokers are sitting there, already sneering at me, saying, УWho is this nut job and why does he think I should care if smokers are being threatened?Ф Well let me illuminate some things for you, nonbelievers. In 2003 a company in California enacted a new insurance policy that would allow potential employees to be discriminated against because they smoked. As rancid as that may be, IТm sure there are those of you who are still uncaring. It goes further, however. The true tragedy of this change in policy came when a man who had been working diligently there for years was fired because they found nicotine in his drug test. Nothing else. No crack, no heroin, no illegal substances whatsoever, just nicotine. This man was fired because he smoked online cigarettes. IТm sure there are those of you who are still skeptical of how this should matter to you. I want you to consider for a moment to consider yourself in his place. Imagine if you had been fired with no severance because you had been doing something completely legal in your private life. Last I checked this was America, not Nazi Germany. If that isnТt an encroachment on our rights as Americans I donТt know what is. This is just the first step, however. There is an effort going on as I stand before you and speak to make it so a single instance of someone smoking in a movie would warrant an R rating. It doesnТt seem like much, but it is another step. TheyТre all just another step. Each small step moves closer and closer toward an outright obliteration of our freedom to smoke. We arrive at college, free of our parents, and suddenly something new is opened up to us. WeТre 18 and can legally smoke.