Cigarettes in a class by themselves as killers

Sunday, June 5, 2011
Letter to the Editor
Daily Gazette

The May 26 editorial, “Let pharmacies sell cigarettes,” concludes by asking “Why single out cigarettes when supermarket pharmacy aisles are littered with other unhealthy products, such as alcohol, high-fat meats, transfat-laden snacks and ice cream?”

Cigarettes need to be singled out because no other product, when used as intended, kills 50 percent of those who use it. According to the World Health Organization, alcohol kills 2.5 million annually, while the deaths from tobacco use exceed 6 million per year. Products high in sugar and fat can be used and enjoyed in moderation. The same cannot be said of tobacco products.

Cigarettes are heavily marketed to our youth because the tobacco executives know they need, by their words, “replacement smokers.” They attract these “replacement smokers” by spending over $1.1 million per day in New York state to market their products in convenience stores, gas stations, supermarkets and pharmacies. Not only does this excessive marketing entice the next generation of smokers, it costs each state household $889 per year to cover the medical costs associated with tobacco use.

We need to stop normalizing cigarettes and treat them as the dangerous products they are. One way to do that is to end the sale of tobacco in pharmacies. Pharmacies increasingly market themselves as places of health. Pharmacists overwhelming support tobacco-free pharmacies, as do the majority (69 percent) of Capital Region residents. To sell a product that kills at least half its users is incongruous with the health focus of pharmacies.

We need to stop normalizing tobacco products, and we owe it to our youth to no longer make this product so appealing and accessible. It’s time we join the rest of the world and no longer sell tobacco in our pharmacies.

Judy Rightmyer
Burnt Hills