Retail chains that don't sell cigarettes

[charfdorn]

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So I'm just curious about which chains DO NOT sell cigarettes anywhere in the store. It really should be all of them, because calling yourself a healthcare provider and selling a known carcinogen with no health benefit is terrible hypocrisy, but sadly most pharmacies still sell cigarettes.

The only one that comes immediately to mind is Target. Anybody else work for a retail chain (local or national) that sells no tobacco products?

 

[museabuse]

So I'm just curious about which chains DO NOT sell cigarettes anywhere in the store. It really should be all of them, because calling yourself a healthcare provider and selling a known carcinogen with no health benefit is terrible hypocrisy, but sadly most pharmacies still sell cigarettes.

The only one that comes immediately to mind is Target. Anybody else work for a retail chain (local or national) that sells no tobacco products?

Retail chains are a business. They will sell anything and everything that makes them a profit. Target doesn't sell cigarettes because they thinks its unhealthy, they probably don't see an ROI thats worth the hassel or it doesn't fit into their business model, not because they are trying to save lives.

If CVS and walgreens actually cared they would not sell Pink Eye Relief by Similasan, Oscillococcinum, or Crave-nx hunger spray. They are all just placebo rip off products.

 

[rph3664]

So I'm just curious about which chains DO NOT sell cigarettes anywhere in the store. It really should be all of them, because calling yourself a healthcare provider and selling a known carcinogen with no health benefit is terrible hypocrisy, but sadly most pharmacies still sell cigarettes.

The only one that comes immediately to mind is Target. Anybody else work for a retail chain (local or national) that sells no tobacco products?

I worked for Target as a teenager in the early 1980s, when it was Midwest only. They actually discontinued their pharmacies not long after I started, then reinstated them in the early 1990s. We only sold cigarettes by the carton; I'm not sure why but now believe it had to do with tax laws, and that cartons were harder to shoplift (they were kept on open shelves). Back then, you could actually buy cigarettes in vending machines.

When I worked at the grocery store, the store did sell cigarettes but we had an unofficial policy that we would not ring them up.

When I was a Target cashier, if a teenage boy purchased something, they would ALWAYS include a box of condoms just to embarrass us girls. Interestingly, I don't remember any of them actually buying them! We would toss them into the return-to-shelf box.

 

[BrightLight]

They would even sell marijuana had it been legalized...

Anyway, it's comforting to see someone who still cares, because the pharmacists should care about public health issues. It's sad that business has to place profit before people's welfare in order to survive.

 

[rph3664]

I just remembered a guy who walked up to my cashier lane and asked me where the chewing tobacco was.



I replied that we didn't sell it, and he pointed to the cigarettes and said, "You sell those filthy things but you don't have chewing tobacco?"

😀

 

[Sparda29]

They would even sell marijuana had it been legalized.

Where do you think they would have sold it anyways if it was legalized? Pharmacy owners should be advocating for legalizing marijuana.

 

[charfdorn]

They would even sell marijuana had it been legalized...

Anyway, it's comforting to see someone who still cares, because the pharmacists should care about public health issues. It's sad that business has to place profit before people's welfare in order to survive.

I'm thinking about making a commitment not to work for a company that sells cigarettes and prescription drugs in the same building, but I want to know how restrictive that will really be.

Where do you think they would have sold it anyways if it was legalized? Pharmacy owners should be advocating for legalizing marijuana.

Marijuana should be medicinalized and it's my opinion that smoke inhalation is not an effective drug delivery vehicle. There's a clear medicinal value to canniboids, but there's no reason to deliver that medicine via a carcinogenic method.

 

[owlegrad]

I'm thinking about making a commitment not to work for a company that sells cigarettes and prescription drugs in the same building, but I want to know how restrictive that will really be.

I admire your resolve, but where do you draw the line? I mean alcohol is much worse for public health than tobacco, we should ban that as well. What about soda/junk food? Obesity trumps anything beer/cigs could hope to do to our society. As others have mentioned, how about things that while maybe not harmful themselves are also not helpful (e.g., AirBourne)?

 

[BrightLight]

I'm thinking about making a commitment not to work for a company that sells cigarettes and prescription drugs in the same building, but I want to know how restrictive that will really be.

That would be very hard on yourself, and I am afraid that would not be very practical in current tight job market. In the end, you may turn cynical.

Instead of doing that, why don't you try to promote smoking cessation? It's more feasible, and there are just many opportunities for a pharmacist to make a contribution to such effort. After all, it's more effective to make people stay away from something dangerous by their own will, rather than by witholding it from them.

 

[owlegrad]

That would be very hard on yourself, and I am afraid that would not be very practical in current tight job market. In the end, you may turn cynical.

Instead of doing that, why don't you try to promote smoking cessation? It's more feasible, and there are just many opportunities for a pharmacist to make a contribution to such effort. After all, it's more effective to make people stay away from something dangerous by their own will, rather than by witholding it from them.

Is that even possible? I mean how effective are those Truth commercials (for example)? Call me cynical, but I don't think it is possible to get (most) people to stop doing whatever the hell they want. Cigarettes are expensive, disgusting, deadly, etc, etc. Still people smoke.

 

[rph3664]

I'm thinking about making a commitment not to work for a company that sells cigarettes and prescription drugs in the same building, but I want to know how restrictive that will really be.



Marijuana should be medicinalized and it's my opinion that smoke inhalation is not an effective drug delivery vehicle. There's a clear medicinal value to canniboids, but there's no reason to deliver that medicine via a carcinogenic method.

The only guaranteed way to do that is to open your own store.

Some people who do not believe in birth control, or they do not want to be involved in selling Plan B or related items, have opened their own contraceptive-free pharmacies. I do know of one that failed, because it was not in an optimum location, but others are doing well and even have waiting lists of people who want to work there - and most people would be shocked at how many of them are young women. These stores have been very upfront about what they are doing.

Most hospitals are now smoke-free, and some hospitals and other employers do not hire smokers, period.

On a lighter note, Dave Barry has said of cigarettes: "Our Motto: Eventually, you stop throwing up."

 

[SomeGuy]

It's illegal here:
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/pub/tobacco/act.html

"As health facilities, pharmacies are not allowed to sell tobacco. Department stores, grocery stores or other places that include a pharmacy also cannot sell tobacco."

 

[pharmddreams]

Lol customers at our store select their cigarettes from the front of the store and and have them delivered to the pharmacy by an associate so they can check out with their prescription.

 

[1TB4RKSB4CK]

Ew cigarettes.

 

[johnep34]

As health facilities, pharmacies are not allowed to sell tobacco. Department stores, grocery stores or other places that include a pharmacy also cannot sell tobacco."

Alcohol and tobacco are not sold in UK pharmacies. However, the large stores get round this by simply designating just the Health care counter and dispensary as a pharmacy, and gaily selling what they like just a few yards away.

Chewing tobacco was introduced some 20-30 years ago. Immediately banned because of oral cancer fears. Cannot remember exactly now but was presented in what looked like a tea bag. Because smoking was banned in the bus garage where my father worked, many men took snuff. My father died from throat cancer in 1980.
johnep

 

[Pharmavixen]

My grandfather died of lung cancer in 1990. Where I practice, in Ontario, smokes can't be sold in pharmacies. I recall when the ban came into effect, January 1995, the company I worked for, Shoppers Drug Mart, predicted that the ban would lead to the loss of 2000 jobs in Ontario. Instead, in 1995, 50 pharmacies closed, but 120 opened, for a net gain of 70 pharmacies.

Before that, I'd sell Ventolin and Flovent inhalers in the back, and I'd watch the patients walk to the front and buy their cartons of smokes. Though I suppose it could be argued that asthmatics are buying their smokes elsewhere, and we can't keep track of them anymore.

 

[charfdorn]

I admire your resolve, but where do you draw the line? I mean alcohol is much worse for public health than tobacco, we should ban that as well. What about soda/junk food? Obesity trumps anything beer/cigs could hope to do to our society. As others have mentioned, how about things that while maybe not harmful themselves are also not helpful (e.g., AirBourne)?

Alcohol and junk food are not objectively harmful in moderation. I don't feel strongly enough about placebo products to boycott their sale; I just don't recommend them, ever, to anybody. Cigarettes are unique in that they show no health benefit in any quantity. It doesn't make sense for them to be a legal product, given what we now know about them.

 

[owlegrad]

Alcohol and junk food are not objectively harmful in moderation. I don't feel strongly enough about placebo products to boycott their sale; I just don't recommend them, ever, to anybody. Cigarettes are unique in that they show no health benefit in any quantity. It doesn't make sense for them to be a legal product, given what we now know about them.

Agree. I don't think the government should necessarily outlaw them (think prohibition), but cigarettes are just terrible. I don't understand why anyone my age smokes. I can understand people who are already addicted from 30 years ago, but why anyone takes up smoking nowadays is beyond me.

 

[charfdorn]

Agree. I don't think the government should necessarily outlaw them (think prohibition), but cigarettes are just terrible. I don't understand why anyone my age smokes. I can understand people who are already addicted from 30 years ago, but why anyone takes up smoking nowadays is beyond me.

Well, it's cool, and you get a little high from it.

I used to smoke. If cigarettes had been illegal, I never would have started.

 

[rph3664]

Before that, I'd sell Ventolin and Flovent inhalers in the back, and I'd watch the patients walk to the front and buy their cartons of smokes. Though I suppose it could be argued that asthmatics are buying their smokes elsewhere, and we can't keep track of them anymore.

One Saturday morning, I had a customer waiting at the counter while I filled his prescription, and another man walked up and said, "Could you refill my Combivent?" The other man turned to him and said, "You a smoker too?" and he replied, "I quit 30 years ago and it still caught up to me!"

 

[rph3664]

Cigarettes are unique in that they show no health benefit in any quantity. It doesn't make sense for them to be a legal product, given what we now know about them.

A huge percentage of people with schizophrenia because it reduces the severity of their hallucinations, and some people with Tourette's Syndrome benefit from it too. There are studies going on, mainly using nicotine inhalers and patches.

 

[Sparda29]

I'm thinking about making a commitment not to work for a company that sells cigarettes and prescription drugs in the same building, but I want to know how restrictive that will really be.



Marijuana should be medicinalized and it's my opinion that smoke inhalation is not an effective drug delivery vehicle. There's a clear medicinal value to canniboids, but there's no reason to deliver that medicine via a carcinogenic method.

Okay, so sell it mixed in with candy bars, popcorn, brownies, etc. Asides from that, despite the fact that there is a medicinal value to marijuana, as someone in pharmacy, I'd be pushing for it to be legalized for recreational purposes along with medicinal purposes.

 

[owlegrad]

Okay, so sell it mixed in with candy bars, popcorn, brownies, etc. Asides from that, despite the fact that there is a medicinal value to marijuana, as someone in pharmacy, I'd be pushing for it to be legalized for recreational purposes along with medicinal purposes.

I don't think I understand your argument. Because you are in pharmacy, you believe that recreational drug use should be legalized? I don't understand how A follows B.

 

[Ackj]

I don't think I understand your argument. Because you are in pharmacy, you believe that recreational drug use should be legalized? I don't understand how A follows B.

Everybody knows recreational drug use keeps our doors open. Do you really think that many patients have a bad back?






...but yeah, another typical Sparda comment. It has some potential medical use, so let's legalize a carcinogenic form where we can't accurately determine the dosage. Why do we have those crush/melt proof narcotics now anyway?

 

[jyso]

I thought all retail chain were out to get money... I work at CVS and I had a conversation with the front store manager and he said that they make like $10,000 in cigarette sales each month...

Dont know how true that statement is but i mean it is a billion dollar industry so i wont be surprised considered some of the patients smoke like chimneys.

 

[charfdorn]

I thought all retail chain were out to get money... I work at CVS and I had a conversation with the front store manager and he said that they make like $10,000 in cigarette sales each month...

Dont know how true that statement is but i mean it is a billion dollar industry so i wont be surprised considered some of the patients smoke like chimneys.

Well there has to be a reason they sell them. That doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. I mean, pharmacies don't sell guns or pornography. Who decides which "undesirables" are worth it and which aren't?

 

[samuricool]

Well there has to be a reason they sell them. That doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. I mean, pharmacies don't sell guns or pornography. Who decides which "undesirables" are worth it and which aren't?

The same reason they sell everything else in the store - to make money. Tobacco sales just require a little extra legal hoops to jump through than does everything else. They still sell candy bars, ice cream by the gallon, and hot pockets to all kinds of people who shouldnt be eating those things either.

 

[CUpharmD2013]

They still sell hot pockets to all kinds of people who shouldnt be eating those things either.

What's wrong with hot pockets? Come on, man!

 

[charfdorn]

What's wrong with hot pockets? Come on, man!

I'm inclined to think that hot pockets are not fit for human consumption, but they are delicious... http://bit.ly/blyEKq

 

[FarscapeGirl]

I admire your resolve, but where do you draw the line? I mean alcohol is much worse for public health than tobacco, we should ban that as well. What about soda/junk food? Obesity trumps anything beer/cigs could hope to do to our society. As others have mentioned, how about things that while maybe not harmful themselves are also not helpful (e.g., AirBourne)?

I've said the same thing so many times... Granted, tobacco is a pretty high carcinogen, but there's other things sold in pharmacies that are not healthy and even more that could be used unhealthfully.

 

[Sparda29]

I don't think I understand your argument. Because you are in pharmacy, you believe that recreational drug use should be legalized? I don't understand how A follows B.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Carcinogenic? Okay, don't sell raw marijuana plant leaf. Sell it in an edible-only form.

 

[owlegrad]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Carcinogenic? Okay, don't sell raw marijuana plant leaf. Sell it in an edible-only form.

You're arguement is that it would mean money? I can't argue with that!

 

[eeyore spice]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Carcinogenic? Okay, don't sell raw marijuana plant leaf. Sell it in an edible-only form.

....The leaves are edible. Unless you mean to just make dronabinol OTC...or only sell pot butter...

Maybe pharmacies should only sell drugs, if we're so conflicted about patients buying unhealthy stuff under the same roof...and like museabuse mentioned, selling homeopathic products is less ethical than selling tobacco. Nobody ever bought cigarettes thinking they're a pharmacist-recommended cure for the flu.

 

[rph3664]

The first day of pharmacology, which we took along with dental, medical, and physician assistant students, the professor slapped the following quote on the overhead projector:

"If the whole of the materia medica were to be dumped to the bottom of the sea, it would be all the better for mankind, and all the worse for the fishes."

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

[charfdorn]

....The leaves are edible. Unless you mean to just make dronabinol OTC...or only sell pot butter...

Maybe pharmacies should only sell drugs, if we're so conflicted about patients buying unhealthy stuff under the same roof...and like museabuse mentioned, selling homeopathic products is less ethical than selling tobacco. Nobody ever bought cigarettes thinking they're a pharmacist-recommended cure for the flu.

You guys don't actually think wasting money on a homeopathic placebo pill is worse than smoking, do you?

 

[eeyore spice]

You guys don't actually think wasting money on a homeopathic placebo pill is worse than smoking, do you?

My points were that tobacco is a recreational drug that everyone knows is bad for you, and that not everything sold in a pharmacy, especially one-stop shopping places like Walgreens, is there because it's good for your health. Would you object to selling non-diet soda under the same roof as metformin? If you can trust people to drink high fructose corn syrup in moderation, you should be able to trust them to smoke in moderation.

Besides, if you see patients buying cigs, you can take that opportunity (and every subsequent time you see them) to ask if they've considered quitting. I doubt asking about quitting soda would go over so well.

 

[scoobygrl79]

The same reason they sell everything else in the store - to make money. Tobacco sales just require a little extra legal hoops to jump through than does everything else. They still sell candy bars, ice cream by the gallon, and hot pockets to all kinds of people who shouldnt be eating those things either.

😳 and I eat carcinogen-forming hotdogs too....wish they weren't so tempting in the grocer part of the pharmacies...

 

[owlegrad]

You guys don't actually think wasting money on a homeopathic placebo pill is worse than smoking, do you?

From a health perspective - of course not.

From an ethical perspective - maybe. Homeopathic "medicine" is a deception, plain and simple. No one buys tobacco for the health benefits, there is no deception.

 

[charfdorn]

My points were that tobacco is a recreational drug that everyone knows is bad for you, and that not everything sold in a pharmacy, especially one-stop shopping places like Walgreens, is there because it's good for your health. Would you object to selling non-diet soda under the same roof as metformin? If you can trust people to drink high fructose corn syrup in moderation, you should be able to trust them to smoke in moderation.

Besides, if you see patients buying cigs, you can take that opportunity (and every subsequent time you see them) to ask if they've considered quitting. I doubt asking about quitting soda would go over so well.

But even in moderation, smoking is bad for you. Eight ounces of HFCS-containing soda, as far as we know, won't cause any long-term harm.

From a health perspective - of course not.

From an ethical perspective - maybe. Homeopathic "medicine" is a deception, plain and simple. No one buys tobacco for the health benefits, there is no deception.

I don't think the smoking public appreciates just how bad smoking is for you. Plus, I believe in the placebo effect. For some people, believing that the homeopathic medicine works will make it work.