COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio’s Attorney General and more than two dozen of his counterparts want the nation’s largest pharmacies to stop selling tobacco products.
Led by Mike DeWine and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman attorneys general in 28 states and territories have written letters to the CEO’s at Walmart, Walgreens, Rite-Aid, Safeway and Kroger, urging them to follow the lead of CVS in pulling tobacco products from store shelves, according to a release from DeWine’s office.
“My fellow attorneys general and I are asking these national retailers to take an additional step forward in keeping tobacco products away from youth by voluntarily not selling them in their stores with pharmacies,” DeWine said in a statement.
The pharmacies have become more oriented toward health care and the attorneys general argue that selling tobacco sends a mixed message.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tobacco-related disease is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., causing over 480,000 deaths a year and costing the economy $289 billion a year in health care costs and productivity losses.
DeWine says the vast majority — almost 90 percent — of adult smokers start smoking by the time they are 18.
“‘Big Tobacco’ relies on getting young people addicted to cigarettes and keeping them as life-long smokers,” he said.
Thirty-two Attorneys General have also commended CVS Caremark for its recent decision to stop selling tobacco in its stores.