"We Don't Hire People Who Use Tobacco In Any Form"

 When I went job hunting a while back, I discovered all the facilities in my area (Houston) also have no-nicotine policies. That means I'm trapped at my place forever, I guess (but today is my very first day not smoking- it feels weird but I've made it through the day so far. 45 years. Yup. You read that right. 45 years of smoking.)

One facility had a sign posted on the door to HR that said "We don't hire anyone who uses nicotine in any form" or something similar, so that includes e-cigs/vapes, patches, gum. It is understood that this no smoking policy is based on insurance costs. 

I understand that most places with this policy only test at hiring. I did hear a reports of annual testing from one person but have no verification of that. 

I also see how smoking could reappear as a problem when it's time for a company's annual enrollment period for health insurance benefits. My facility charges smokers an additional $600 per year in insurance costs (which means the facility probably- not sure- also pays more since companies usually pay for the bulk of one's health insurance coverage.).

This policy does make me a bit angry. I understand the insurance cost angle but these companies aren't also limiting how many French fries my morbidly obese boss eats, and they aren't limiting how many Crown and Seven's my functional alcoholic coworker drinks. 

JMHO: Much of American culture considers all those issues,- overeating, smoking, drinking,- as a failure of morals or discipline, where others view it as addiction, and yet others see it/them as somewhere in-between, but whatever ones views I'm not sure why only one demographic is targeted except that it's somewhat PC; meaning it's somehow OK to target smokers but not the obese or alcoholics.
Those two seem too personal to formally target in the same way.

Can you imagine a sign that said "We don't hire anyone with a BMI above 30%" or "We don't hire people who drink more than 6 alcoholic drinks a week."
Nah.