Tobacco News

More and more people are beginning to open their eyes! This has a lot to do with the efforts of teens and adults in New York State who are working hard to educate the community.



Look at this story that was in USA TODAY:



Retail Chains Starting To Put Out Smokes


By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY
Cigarettes are getting harder to find. More retail chains are dropping
them, and for the first time, officials in a few states want to ban
pharmacies from selling them.
This month, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom proposed an unprecedented
city ban on drugstores selling tobacco products, including cigars, pipes
and smokeless tobacco.
"This will be the beginning of a national movement," Newson predicts. He
says he's "absolutely confident" the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
will approve the ban
this month or early in June. It would take effect Oct. 1.
Others are on the same track. Bills are pending in New Hampshire, Illinois
and Tennessee to bar pharmacies with walk-in clinics from selling tobacco,
and a bill in New
York would apply to all pharmacies, including those in big stores such as
Wal-Mart.
"Pharmacies are places we go to get healthy," says Assemblyman Sam Hoyt,
author of the New York proposal. "It just seems inappropriate that on the
other hand, they
sell something that kills." His state borders Canada, where most provinces
don't let pharmacies sell tobacco.
Most independent pharmacies in the USA no longer sell tobacco, but the
drugstore market is dominated by big chains such as Walgreens, CVS and
Rite Aid that do. Target stopped selling tobacco products in 1996.
Bill Phelps, spokesman for Philip Morris USA, the nation's No. 1 cigarette
maker, says the government should not impose bans. "We think retailers
should be able to decide," he says.
More retailers are deciding not to sell tobacco products. A wave of
grocery stores, some with pharmacies and some without, have taken tobacco
off their shelves. Wegmans, which has 70 stores in five states, did so in
February, the same month as two smaller New York-based chains, Budwey's
and DeCicco Family Markets. San Francisco-based Andronico's also quit in
February, and some ShopRites followed in March.
"We're seeing a real trend in which fewer and fewer stores want to be
associated with the harm caused by cigarettes," says Matt Myers, president
of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. As fewer stores sell cigarettes, he
says, "the cultural norm becomes not smoking."
That doesn't necessarily happen, says Gary Nolan, national spokesman for
Citizens Freedom Alliance, a group that defends smokers rights and the
free market.
Smokers won't stop but will be driven to a black market run by smugglers,
he says.
Wegmans found cigarettes profitable and expected negative reaction from
customers when it dropped them, spokeswoman Jo Natale says. She says there
were a few complaints but far more support.