CVS will stop selling cigarettes and tobacco products by October of this year, making them the first pharmacy chain to stop slanging the cancer sticks to consumers.  

CVS announced this morning that come October, they will no longer sell cigarettes and other tobacco products in their stores.

The second largest drugstore chain in America will become the first chain to make what could be a precedent setting move.

Some retailers, such as Target, stopped selling cigarettes years ago, while some cities, like San Francisco and Boston, currently ban the sale of tobacco products in pharmacies.

Cigarette sales have dropped in the last 10 years, falling to 31.3 percent per Euromonitor International.

The drop in cigarette sales and the stiff competition from cost friendly chains like Family Dollar and Dollar General means that CVS won’t lose that much to begin with anyway, since tobacco sales aren’t a big business item for them.

CVS’ voluntary refusal to sell tobacco products will cost them about $2 billion dollars–but that’s no big deal, as they’re expected to pull in $132.9 billion this year, so what the hell is a few billion bucks?

Public health officials are applauding CVS’ decision, saying that more and more people are beginning to see pharmacies as healthcare settings–although I’m not so sure that’s a good thing, either.  Big pharma, like the tobacco industry, is a soulless, profit driven corporate machine.

“I think it will put pressure on other retailers who want to be in healthcare,” said CVS Caremark Chief Medical Officer Dr. Troyen Brennan.

Regardless, it’s good news is that CVS won’t be a one stop shop for people to pick up their emphysema medications and their cartons of cigarettes at the same damn time.

Despite a sharp decline in adult smoking rates over the years–falling from 43 percent in 1965 to the current 18 percent–smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, claiming the lives of more than 480,000 people each year.

 

April Dawn (@scarlettsinatra)