Health Department steps up anti-smoking campaign

A July 29 Gazette article [“New effort aimed at getting smokers to quit”] called attention to a pair of Department of Health smoking cessation commercials that have hit the airwaves and perhaps even hit a nerve. They’re intentionally hard-hitting for a reason: the effects of tobacco use on smokers and those who care about them hit hard, too.

That’s why the Capital District Tobacco-Free Coalition focuses on preventing youth smoking initiation — the most prominent path from first-time to lifetime smoker. One proven strategy that discourages young people from starting to smoke is reducing the availability and promotion of tobacco products. That’s why the coalition supports an end to the sale of tobacco from pharmacies.

The public expectation of pharmacies, reinforced by their marketing, is that they provide health-related support and guidance. And when pharmacies continue to sell a product that is responsible for the preventable death of 25,400 people in New York state each year, the public objects.

More than two out of every three Capital Region residents think that pharmacies should not sell tobacco products — including more than half of all smokers. Among pharmacists, 96 percent support ending the sale of tobacco products in pharmacies. Yet, more than half of all pharmacies in New York still sell tobacco products.

Theresa Zubretsky
Troy
The writer is the project coordinator for the Capital District Tobacco-Free Coalition.