US: Pharmacies To Stop Selling Cigarettes, Tobacco Products Jan. 1

Consumers will no longer be able to purchase cigarettes in pharmacies citywide beginning Jan. 1 under a new city law.
 

The bill will prohibit pharmacies and businesses that contain pharmacies -- like supermarkets and chain stores -- from obtaining licenses to sell tobacco products and electronic cigarettes.
 

The Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) stopped processing licenses in February and all active licenses will expire on Dec. 31.
 

“Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and is responsible for 12,000 annual deaths in New York,” said Achala Talati, acting director of tobacco policy and program at the city Department of Health (DOH).
 

Approximately 15.9 percent on Staten Islanders, or 57,000 adults, were cigarette smokers as of 2016, according to the city Department of Health's (DOH) Community Health Survey. The borough has the highest average of the city.
 

When pharmacies, which promote health and give lifestyle advice to consumers, sell tobacco products, it tells people that it doesn’t cause health issues, Talati explained.
 

“It shouldn’t be sold in the same places where medication is sold,” Talati said. “And we know that easy access makes it easier for youth to start smoking and makes it harder for adults to quit.”
 

She said that lowering the number of retailers permitted to sell the products is expected to cut the number of New Yorkers who smoke over time.
 

Ashley Zanatta, community engagement manager of Tobacco-Free Staten Island at the Jewish Community Center, said banning the sale of tobacco products in pharmacies is “the right thing to do.”
 

“After all, pharmacies are a place for health care and selling a product that, when used, will kill is an ethical dilemma,” Zanatta said. “The new policy reduces retailer density which can help smokers quit by making the products less accessible and saving thousands on health care costs.”
 

Zanatta said the policy change is due in part to the community and youth advocating at a local and state level.
 

“While we are excited for what is ahead, we know the fight against big tobacco is far from over,” she said.
 

A DROP IN CIGARETTE SALES
 

CVS voluntarily stopped selling cigarettes and tobacco products in its nearly 8,000 retail stores in 2014.
 

A study published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2017 found that CVS-exclusive purchasers were 38 percent less likely to purchase cigarettes elsewhere after the pharmacy removed tobacco from its stores.
 

Cigarette sales dropped by 95 million packs over eight months in 13 states where CVS stopped selling tobacco products, the study shows.
 

It found that in those states, 0.14 fewer packs of cigarettes per smoker were purchased per month compared to states where the retailer continued to sell cigarettes and tobacco products.