Kitzhaber bans smoking on state office grounds
SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Gov. John Kitzhaber is making life tougher on state workers who smoke.
Kitzhaber signed an executive order Thursday banning tobacco use on all property surrounding state offices. It's already illegal to smoke inside most Oregon workplaces, including private jobsites.
The governor says tobacco use by state workers costs taxpayers millions in higher health care costs. And he says he wants to protect employees, clients and visitors from exposure to second-hand smoke.
The ban doesn't apply to college campuses or to places meant for the public, like state parks. But Kitzhaber is asking various governing boards to ban or restrict tobacco in those places, too.
The order takes effect at most state worksites by the middle of next year, although prisons will have until the end of 2014.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
I forgot to mention, before all you non smoking alcohol users get all huffy, just consider this. The Progressives have been for years skewing the stats on smoker deaths. I know a man that was a cattle rancher all his life, sprayed cattle with some really ugly chemicals, the kind they say cause cancer readily. Well this man quit smoking and died 30 years later of cancer. The cause of death listed on the death certificate, "Smoker". That man was my dad, I am not a smoker, but I did spray cattle, what are they going to say on my death certificate.
I am not a smoker, but here again the Progressives are pushing their agenda and bullying. Never mind that cigarette sales are legal to adults. Never mind if you already have to smoke outdoors. Let's see we have the environmental air quality whatever it is. So he wants to ban people from smoking in Parks and State Camp Grounds. So much for tourism dollars. So much for people having any rights. You Progressives think this is a good thing until someone comes after something you want to do like consume alcohol which kills as many or more people than smoking ever did. What a bunch of hypocrites. Rights don't just belong to Kitzrecyclehobber, they belong to everyone.