Kick the habit of tobacco sales

Sunday, June 5, 2011
Letter to the Editor
Times Union

I'm sad to see that tobacco marketing works. Apparently, the $1.1 million a day spent by the tobacco industry to market its products in New York is not going to waste, as proven by the May 31 editorial, "Good intentions, not good policy."

The editorial equates tobacco to "sugary soda, ice cream, cream-filled cakes, beer" -- likening the number one cause of preventable death in the United States to just another occasional treat.

That's exactly what the tobacco industry would have us believe. It has changed some cigarette packages to look like sleek packages of gum, enticing our youth and creating the impression that cigarettes are just another item you can pick up at your local CVS.

Tobacco is not like any other product. When used as intended, it kills 50 percent of users, according to the World Health Organization. Exposure to tobacco marketing in stores is a primary cause of youth smoking, studies show. When that exposure is at a pharmacy that dispenses medical advice and prescriptions, the message is dead wrong. We are telling our youth that tobacco is just another consumer item.

The editorial says that "no one's health is at risk because someone is in a drugstore to buy tobacco products." But studies show that young people are more likely to be influenced by cigarette advertising than by peer or parental smoking. Those who start smoking as teens may end up among the more than 25,000 who die from tobacco-related deaths each year in New York.

I applaud Marra's Pharmacy and the dozen other independent Capital Region pharmacies that have stopped tobacco sales because they recognized the incongruity of selling the cause and remedy for disease. It is unfortunate that chain pharmacies have failed to do so, except when forced by law (as in Boston).

A majority of New Yorkers (69 percent, according to our study) and nearly all pharmacists nationally support ending tobacco sales in pharmacies. The Albany County Legislature would do well to listen to those served and employed by pharmacies.

Jeanie Orr
Project coordinator
Capital District Tobacco-Free Coalition
Albany