Smoke Free NOW praises CVS for not selling tobacco
Press release, Smoke Free NOW
Starting in October 2014, CVS will no longer sell tobacco and tobacco-related products. Most drug stores are evolving into being health and wellness providers, offering health advice, giving flu shots and having clinics for customers who visit their pharmacies.
This huge step and monumental change will continue to reduce the social acceptability of smoking and tobacco usage. The power walls of tobacco marketing and products located behind the counter in many drug stores and convenience stores are influential. They attract the attention of current smokers, ex-smokers and impressionable youth by normalizing the product, making it visually accessible and appear interesting.
Eliminating this “power wall” will aid in limiting the exposure of youth to tobacco and lower tobacco usage rates and ultimately lives lost to tobacco related illness. Smoke Free NOW applauds CVS and encourages other pharmacies to adopt similar policies. For more information, contact Kevin Keenan, program director of Smoke Free NOW, at (585) 815-1875.
