Tobacco products in pharmacies are sending mixed messages

Online Letter to the Editor
Daily Gazette

Saturday, May 2, 2009

In Michael Gormley’s April 21 AP article, “State eyes ban on drug store cigarette sales,” on New York State’s proposed ban on tobacco sales in pharmacies, opponents to the proposed ban of tobacco sales in pharmacies miss the mark by arguing that the ban impedes a pharmacy’s ability to determine and promote their own message. The prevailing public image of pharmacies, a perception reinforced by their own marketing, is that they are associated with good health. The sale of tobacco products in pharmacies links them to health-related products and implicitly sends the message that it is not so bad to use tobacco.

The American Pharmaceutical Association House of Delegates has long recommended that tobacco products not be sold in pharmacies. More than 95 percent of pharmacists oppose tobacco sales on ethical grounds and because it contradicts the pharmacist’s code of ethics “. . . to avoid actions that compromise dedication to the best interests of patients.”

New York State smokers can access free resources to help them quit by calling the New York Smokers’ Quitline (1-866-NY-QUITS). Unfortunately, individuals taking steps to free themselves from tobacco addiction, the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the United States, are faced with racks of cigarettes and chew tobacco when they go to the pharmacy to get nicotine replacement products or pick up prescription cessation medications. The visual impact of tobacco products and the insidious and cunning advertising of the tobacco industry undermines quit attempts and encourages relapse.

Cigarette smoking kills 25,000 New Yorkers a year. If the deadly reality of tobacco addiction is not a compelling enough argument for opponents to the proposed ban on tobacco sales in pharmacies, perhaps a financial one is. New Yorkers spend $8.2 billion tax dollars each year to treat tobacco-related diseases.

Supporting the proposed ban on tobacco sales in pharmacies will send the clear message that tobacco is not a product that is in any way associated with good health and will reinforce the efforts of New York state to assist those individuals who are trying to quit using tobacco.

Deya Greer

Albany

The writer is program coordinator for Schenectady County Tobacco-Free Healthy Schools for the New York State Tobacco Control Program.