I remember bringing up this is exact point in my ethics class a few years ago when we were having the same debate. What's the issue? The fact that at one place the cigs are 100 feet away from the pharmacy, where at another they're 200 feet away? Last I checked, it'll still say Walmart at the top of the receipt...whether you're picking up a Rx for Lipitor or paying for a pack of Marlboro's at the front.
But how's this for a thought...put a sign at the front counter encouraging them to speak to their pharmacist about ways to quit?
I agree the poster who says that, "cigs have no place in the pharmacy", but remember, the first steps in a quitting protocol reside with the
patient. If they can't find cigs in a Walgreens, the customer will just go to a Costco pharmacy or a Walmart pharmacy instead, or a gas station. It just hurts the good clerks working at pharmacies who will suffer the most, by draining revenue away, in an unequal manner. The pharmacy starts from the pharmacist counter. The rest is a store.
It's always hard to create public health laws intended to benefit the population, but do it in a significant and equal manner. No one will quit smoking because they cannot find cigarettes at CVS, Walgreens, their Independent Pharmacy, etc... It sounds like they have good intentions, but it's a pilot program that tampers with the profits of only specific businesses. I agree with ya, Spiriva, that the best thing they could do is to come up with innovative ways to get folks to quit- have quitting brochures and offer consultation. That's the job of the pharmacy. Making sales is the job of a storefront.
Unless you're going to make a law that says, "
no sales of cigarettes in a store containing a pharmacy", then I really don't see how this rule helps. It only targets a few types of pharmacies! Wouldn't a rule which encompasses each type of pharmacy in the city better address the ethical/professional dilemma? I think it would be a little more productive.
When Mayor Bloomberg and the NYCDOH instituted their Public Health law restricting smoking in restaurants, they didn't leave out the chain restaurants. They didn't leave out the hole-in-the-wall restaurants. They made a rule to encompass
all restaurants. It worked well.