(no subject)
Dec. 11th, 2007 01:45 pmDiscuss.
b
EDIT: AS ALWAYS, comments that degrade into insults and / or general horribleness will be frozen and/or deleted.
The Cleveland Clinic, which runs a hospital in Weston and a new outpatient health center in West Palm Beach, will no longer hire smokers, the company announced today.
The world famous health institution will require all job applicants to be tested for the presence of nicotine in their urine. Starting Sept. 1 applicants who test positive for tobacco products will be referred to smoking cessation programs and be allowed to reapply in 90 days.
The smoking ban does not apply to current employees.
During July and August, the company will begin testing new employees for nicotine, but a positive test will not affect an applicants employment status.
------------------------------------
DISCUSS.VIA CNN.COM:
SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- A California woman whose doctor says marijuana is the only medicine keeping her alive is not immune from federal prosecution on drug charges, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The case was brought by Angel Raich, an Oakland mother of two who suffers from scoliosis, a brain tumor, chronic nausea and other ailments. On her doctor's advice, she eats or smokes marijuana every couple of hours to ease her pain and bolster a nonexistent appetite as conventional drugs did not work.
The Supreme Court ruled against Raich two years ago, saying that medical marijuana users and their suppliers could be prosecuted for breaching federal drug laws even if they lived in a state such as California where medical pot is legal.
Because of that ruling, the issue before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was narrowed to the so-called right to life theory: that marijuana should be allowed if it is the only viable option to keep a patient alive.
Raich, 41, began sobbing when she was told of the decision and said she would continue using the drug.
"I'm sure not going to let them kill me," she said. "Oh my God."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------