San Francisco has banned the sale of tobacco in pharmacies, considering the irony that stores promoting health are also selling products that can cause cancer. http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_10031737 Opponents though, argue that its better to sell tobacco in drugstores, because smokers can also purchase products there that aid in smoking cessation. They say, the corner store doesn’t offer this alternative. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/30/BAC7121IRV.D... The ban probably won’t hurt the tobacco industry though, as more and more discount cigarette sales are moving to the Web anyway.
This one is a real toss-up, since it is slightly unfair to stores who want to sell certain products. However, I don't necessarily think that drugstores have the RIGHT to sell tobacco. There are plenty of state laws that don't allow the sale of certain alcohols in grocery stores, but you can purchase pretty much any alcoholic beverage in California grocery stores.
I think the argument, however, that smokers don't have the option of purchasing products to help them get better in corner stores is ridiculous though. If someone is going into a Rite Aid to buy a pack of cigarettes, they're not going to change their mind right then and there and give it up when they see a nicotine patch.
Drugstores are supposed to sell products to improve health. It makes no sense for them to sell products that may kill the purchaser and people in contact with the purchaser via secondhand smoke.
It is bizarre that one needs a prescription to buy certain potentially dangerous products in a drugstore, but one can just walk in and buy cigarettes, a product more dangerous than many products under prescription, and which will not have the positive effects of prescription medications.
But not only do we need to think about drugstores selling tobacco, but any store selling tobacco. Why is that stuff legal????
Wow! This is a tough one. As an ex-smoker, I believe it should be banned from drugstrore sales. A 17-year old kid should not be responsible for 'carding' other 15-17 year-olds trying to sneak.
This is an addictive behavior, it should be more difficult to make this choice if you do choose to.
Because the FDA is trying so hard to shut down the sale of supplements based on their theory that they do no good, why isn't the sale of tobacco illegal when it has been proved to kill?
The FDA banned the early artificial sweetener because it MIGHT cause cancer. Why not ban tobacco because its been proved a cancer killer? One standard fits all here.
The term "drugstore" in the United States is deceptive as chains like CVS and Walgreen's have largely driven the traditional "chemist" to extinction. Why shouldn't they sell cigarettes? The average American drugstore sells far more crap than just health-improving products.
Plus there was that episode of House where House prescribed cigarettes to a patient :)
We go to drugstores to buy something to make us feel better when we are sick. The nicotine from tobacco is far more addictive than morphine, cocaine, or alcohol. Allowing the sale of tobacco products in drugstores is an irony itself.
Drug stores are no different than any other business. If they were truly interested in the health and well being of others, they would sell cheaper drugs. Allen
Tobacco is not the only unhealthy product sold in pharmacies. Most "modern" medicines from Big Pharm have nasty side-effects; many of them toxic.
But more importantly, tobacco is not 'bad' in & of itself. In the ITI Way, tobacco was made by the Creator specifically to carry every thought, emotion, & similar that come near It to the spirits as if they were intended as prayers. Chunli / tobacco does this automatically & spontaneously. Because of this, it is Holy, in many Indigenous Ways. We have always had cautions about its use as a result. The Traditional Teaching of my People is, "Because tobacco is holy, It is automtically to be shown respect & not used casually. If people don't do this, It will respond by taking over the casual user's will (addiction) and eating his/her offending body parts (cancer)." We knew this long before Europeans first came here. We likely warned at least some of the newcomers. But we were deemed "superstitious" and "ignorant" and "backward" by the arrogant newcomers. Well, takoszja, the result of arrogance is death. As we have seen over the intervening dona-hey years, once again, we 'backward, ignorant, savages' knew what we were talking about..
Not enough space to list all the stuff that's bad for you and available at your average chain drug store, starting with the OTC drugs.
Candy, soda, hair dye ... and where are photo services on the healthy list? A little absurd, yes, but so is notion that drug stores are solely for healthy products
But consider this: Drug stores are much more practiced in regulation of products and customers than any other outlets (except for maybe liquor and gun stores), certainly moreso than the corner store.
I don't feel too concerned about selling cigs in that environment, especially in Cali, where you can buy liquor all day and night at the freeway Mini-Mart ...
I think you are all missing the point. It is absolutely *not* our right to impose our beliefs on other individuals. The whole concept of the American constitution is individual freedoms, rights and responsibilities above all else. We have a right to succeed and a right to fail. We have a right to be healthy and a right to be unhealthy.
What one of thinks is correct can not be imposed on others. So the only question is, can we successfully keep tobacco out of the hands of children by selling it in various avenues. For adults, they should be free to purchase what they want, when they want if they are to be truly free Americans.
Folks the pendulum is swinging, on one side liberty, on the other side control. The more 'control' we seek the more liberties we remove. Yes we can protect everyone but at the expense of their civil liberties. Grown ups can and should decide what life to live and others may not agree but they do not have the constitutional right to impose their will on others.
P.S. I'm a non-smoker Never had even 1 cigarette. It's not for me and I find it disgusting. But I respect individual rights of choice.
I don't believe that banning the sale of tobacco in drugstores will hinder the consumer's consumption. Take for example alcohol. In several states here in the US, alcohol is not allowed to be sold anywhere except for liquor stores. In addition, several states do not allow hard liquor to be sold on Sundays. Consumers have learned to adjust to these restrictions. Just as they have done for alcohol, I believe that they will learn to adjust for their tobacco consumption.
13 Total
July 31, 2008 at 8:37am by Lynne d Johnson
San Francisco has banned the sale of tobacco in pharmacies, considering the irony that stores promoting health are also selling products that can cause cancer. http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_10031737 Opponents though, argue that its better to sell tobacco in drugstores, because smokers can also purchase products there that aid in smoking cessation. They say, the corner store doesn’t offer this alternative. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/30/BAC7121IRV.D... The ban probably won’t hurt the tobacco industry though, as more and more discount cigarette sales are moving to the Web anyway.
July 31, 2008 at 8:49am by Rachel King
This one is a real toss-up, since it is slightly unfair to stores who want to sell certain products. However, I don't necessarily think that drugstores have the RIGHT to sell tobacco. There are plenty of state laws that don't allow the sale of certain alcohols in grocery stores, but you can purchase pretty much any alcoholic beverage in California grocery stores.
I think the argument, however, that smokers don't have the option of purchasing products to help them get better in corner stores is ridiculous though. If someone is going into a Rite Aid to buy a pack of cigarettes, they're not going to change their mind right then and there and give it up when they see a nicotine patch.
July 31, 2008 at 9:29am by Kenneth Ellison
Drugstores are supposed to sell products to improve health. It makes no sense for them to sell products that may kill the purchaser and people in contact with the purchaser via secondhand smoke.
It is bizarre that one needs a prescription to buy certain potentially dangerous products in a drugstore, but one can just walk in and buy cigarettes, a product more dangerous than many products under prescription, and which will not have the positive effects of prescription medications.
But not only do we need to think about drugstores selling tobacco, but any store selling tobacco. Why is that stuff legal????
July 31, 2008 at 12:52pm by Robert Kelly
Wow! This is a tough one. As an ex-smoker, I believe it should be banned from drugstrore sales. A 17-year old kid should not be responsible for 'carding' other 15-17 year-olds trying to sneak.
This is an addictive behavior, it should be more difficult to make this choice if you do choose to.
August 1, 2008 at 12:15pm by John Abbott
Because the FDA is trying so hard to shut down the sale of supplements based on their theory that they do no good, why isn't the sale of tobacco illegal when it has been proved to kill?
The FDA banned the early artificial sweetener because it MIGHT cause cancer. Why not ban tobacco because its been proved a cancer killer? One standard fits all here.
August 3, 2008 at 10:39am by Marianne Bellotti
The term "drugstore" in the United States is deceptive as chains like CVS and Walgreen's have largely driven the traditional "chemist" to extinction. Why shouldn't they sell cigarettes? The average American drugstore sells far more crap than just health-improving products.
Plus there was that episode of House where House prescribed cigarettes to a patient :)
August 3, 2008 at 8:23pm by DAVID PUENTE
We go to drugstores to buy something to make us feel better when we are sick. The nicotine from tobacco is far more addictive than morphine, cocaine, or alcohol. Allowing the sale of tobacco products in drugstores is an irony itself.
August 4, 2008 at 10:24am by franceab
Hmmm..maybe I'm confused. I think of Walgreens as a drugstore. If that's true, is tobacco the ONLY unhealthly product sold?
August 4, 2008 at 3:49pm by Allen Battle
Drug stores are no different than any other business. If they were truly interested in the health and well being of others, they would sell cheaper drugs. Allen
August 4, 2008 at 7:31pm by Carel Two-Eagle
Tobacco is not the only unhealthy product sold in pharmacies. Most "modern" medicines from Big Pharm have nasty side-effects; many of them toxic.
But more importantly, tobacco is not 'bad' in & of itself. In the ITI Way, tobacco was made by the Creator specifically to carry every thought, emotion, & similar that come near It to the spirits as if they were intended as prayers. Chunli / tobacco does this automatically & spontaneously. Because of this, it is Holy, in many Indigenous Ways. We have always had cautions about its use as a result. The Traditional Teaching of my People is, "Because tobacco is holy, It is automtically to be shown respect & not used casually. If people don't do this, It will respond by taking over the casual user's will (addiction) and eating his/her offending body parts (cancer)." We knew this long before Europeans first came here. We likely warned at least some of the newcomers. But we were deemed "superstitious" and "ignorant" and "backward" by the arrogant newcomers. Well, takoszja, the result of arrogance is death. As we have seen over the intervening dona-hey years, once again, we 'backward, ignorant, savages' knew what we were talking about..
August 9, 2008 at 10:22pm by neal scarbrough
Not enough space to list all the stuff that's bad for you and available at your average chain drug store, starting with the OTC drugs.
Candy, soda, hair dye ... and where are photo services on the healthy list? A little absurd, yes, but so is notion that drug stores are solely for healthy products
But consider this: Drug stores are much more practiced in regulation of products and customers than any other outlets (except for maybe liquor and gun stores), certainly moreso than the corner store.
I don't feel too concerned about selling cigs in that environment, especially in Cali, where you can buy liquor all day and night at the freeway Mini-Mart ...
August 14, 2008 at 11:14am by dave marcus
I think you are all missing the point. It is absolutely *not* our right to impose our beliefs on other individuals. The whole concept of the American constitution is individual freedoms, rights and responsibilities above all else. We have a right to succeed and a right to fail. We have a right to be healthy and a right to be unhealthy.
What one of thinks is correct can not be imposed on others. So the only question is, can we successfully keep tobacco out of the hands of children by selling it in various avenues. For adults, they should be free to purchase what they want, when they want if they are to be truly free Americans.
Folks the pendulum is swinging, on one side liberty, on the other side control. The more 'control' we seek the more liberties we remove. Yes we can protect everyone but at the expense of their civil liberties. Grown ups can and should decide what life to live and others may not agree but they do not have the constitutional right to impose their will on others.
P.S. I'm a non-smoker Never had even 1 cigarette. It's not for me and I find it disgusting. But I respect individual rights of choice.
September 7, 2008 at 12:43pm by Heather Sherbert
I don't believe that banning the sale of tobacco in drugstores will hinder the consumer's consumption. Take for example alcohol. In several states here in the US, alcohol is not allowed to be sold anywhere except for liquor stores. In addition, several states do not allow hard liquor to be sold on Sundays. Consumers have learned to adjust to these restrictions. Just as they have done for alcohol, I believe that they will learn to adjust for their tobacco consumption.