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.

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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.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-05-09-cigarettes-sales_N.htm?csp=1

Fewer outlets mean lower sdales for traditional brands and will be reflected in Master Settlement Agreement proceeds to state governments.

It will also be reflected in reduced sales tax collections and considering the prices charged will be a substantial loss to government.

How will states make up for the lost revenue?

How will states finance SCHIP?

Government control of tobacco sales is what has financed the anti-tobacco movement, without it consumption will not die, but their revenue will.

If the FDA is given control of tobacco, how will they control distribution without pharmacies?

Actions like these are only killing the goose that lay the golden eggs.

This was done by a few small independent drugstores in Toledo about a decade ago, with little fanfare, but it was their decision,hardly anyone even knew about it, and it was not forced on them by mincing fags like Newsom, etc. This is just another attempt to get more free publicity by further denormalizing and demonizing smokers.

I've said for about a decade now-all the tobacco companies should say F^ck You to all state governments that aren't smoker friendly, stop distributing smokes and tobacco products to every place in the state, and open their own tobacco stores-making them the only ones who were able to sell them. Plus make 'em 24 hrs. Why should anyone in the state be allowed to make any profit from them, other than the state tax?

I saw this last night while waiting in the checkout line at the Harris-Teeter which still sells cigarettes, at least in Virginia and it infuriated me - as does every self-congratulating anti headline. The fewer places that sell cigarettes will mean that the price will go up at those that still can sell them (gas stations, convenience stores etc.), because there will be less competition - on top of the taxes that are being piled on again.

quote:

Government control of tobacco sales is what has financed the anti-tobacco movement, without it consumption will not die, but their revenue will.

If the FDA is given control of tobacco, how will they control distribution without pharmacies?

Actions like these are only killing the goose that lay the golden eggs.

I don't think the antis and their politician shils really care about tax revenue from cigarettes drying up Bruce. Their main goal is to restrict where cigarettes can be sold and smoked to the point that it becomes a defacto illegal act. This is right out of the WHO's FCTC orders. They will start taxing other stuff they don't approve of - be it booze or big macs, to make up for the lost revenue. I hate to be so negative, but thats where its headed I'm afraid, and its only going to get worse with the dems in power.