There is an article in today's International Herald Trib (probably in the NYT as well, since NYT publishes IHT) describing the growing trend among employers to refuse to hire smokers. They can find nicotine in the system through testing, of course, so lying doesn't cut it.
Mediocre Mellophanter that I am, I'm much too lazy to find the article on line, or even go downstairs and re-read the paper before making this post. However, that's the gist of it. Some states have passed laws making it illegal for employers to discriminate on this basis, and even some anti-smoking activists think that this has gone too far.
I guess I disagree with that policy. I am hostile to drug testing even for illegal drugs, so I can't come up with a good reason why companies should be allowed to use testing to discriminate against people who use a LEGAL substance, however inadvisable it may be. Yes, it's a bad health habit that raises costs/lowers productivity for the company. But so do unprotected sex and being overweight (possibly). Where does it stop?
I also wonder about chewing tobacco. Is that verboten as well, and if it is not, how do you distinguish between chewers and inhalers?
This policy seems unlikely to hold up over time. Someone will claim discrimination under the ADA - it's an addiction, isn't that a disability? - and the whole thing will fall apart.