Attorneys general from 28 states and U.S. territories this month called on CEOs at four of the largest retail pharmacy chains in the nation to cease selling tobacco products in their stores.
Meanwhile, 32 state attorneys general joined in commending CVS Caremark Corp. as the first national pharmacy chain to stop selling tobacco products at its 7,600 retail stores. CVS”™s recent decision followed the elimination of tobacco sales by major retailers such as Target and Wegmans and by independent and small chain pharmacies.
Led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, the states”™ chief legal officers wrote to CEOs of  Wal-Mart, Walgreens – which also operates Duane Reade drug stores – Rite-Aid, Safeway and Kroger, asking them to remove all tobacco products from their shelves.
They pointed out that tobacco-related disease is the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S., causing at least 480,000 premature deaths each year. Health care costs and productivity losses due to smoking cost the nation at least $289 billion annually, the attorneys wrote, citing the Surgeon General”™s 2014 report.
“There is a contradiction in having these dangerous and devastating tobacco products on the shelves of a retail chain that services health care needs,” the attorneys general said in their March 14 letter. Their availability “normalizes tobacco use,” they said, and is also likely to increase impulse tobacco purchases among smokers who are trying to quit and are shopping at pharmacies for smoking cessation products.
Schneiderman in a press release said pharmacies and drug stores, “which increasingly market themselves as a source for community health care, send a mixed message by continuing to sell deadly tobacco products. The fact that these stores profit from the sale of cigarettes and tobacco must take a back seat to the health of New Yorkers and customers across the country.”
DeWine, the Ohio attorney general, in a press release said he and his colleagues “are asking these national retailers to take an additional step forward in keeping tobacco products away from youth by voluntarily not selling them in their stores with pharmacies. The health of our kids is just too important.”
The American Pharmacists Association in 2010 urged pharmacies to discontinue sales of tobacco products. Also calling for bans on tobacco sales in pharmacies were the American Medical Association, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society and American Lung Association.
