Supporting Facts

 Introduction: The Business Journals is the online media division of American City
Business Journals which operates websites for each of the company's 40 print business
journals as well as its first web-only local business news and information sites for
Chicago, Illinois, New York, New York and Los Angeles, California and newly
accompanied by Hawaii.

 "Ending the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS/pharmacy is the right thing
for us to do for our customers and our company to help people on their path to better
health," said Larry J. Merlo, President and CEO, CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) said in a
statement. "Put simply, the sale of tobacco products is inconsistent with our purpose."

 Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and disease in the U.S.,
responsible for 480,000 deaths a year. Tobacco use is an established concern among
pharmacists, whose professional obligation is to promote the health of their patients.
More than 16 million Americans currently live with a smoking-related illness, and
cigarette smoking can complicate chronic disease management.
 In a Bloomberg Message presented by Olivia Sterns, reports; That this is the first
nationwide pharmacy chain to say they will stop selling tobacco products. We have seen
some cities including San francisco put a band on pharmacies selling tobacco products.
But CVS came out with this news on on February 5th 2014. It takes out 1.5 billion out of
their revenue; meaning they are very serious about this movement and genuinely care
about their customers and as President Larry Merlo stated, we wouldn't want to contradict
our purpose with our sales.

 Ceasing sales of tobacco products "will make a significant difference in reducing the
chronic illnesses associated with tobacco use," said CVS Caremark Chief Medical
Officer Troyen A. Brennan.

 And Bloomberg Businessweek also reports the “no-smoking move” could benefit CVS'
relationship with insurers and doctors and allow the company to strengthen its core
business, since prescription sales have far more growth potential than tobacco sales.

 According to the CDC Director Tom Frieden, people look to pharmacies to improve and
support their health, selling tobacco products, the leading preventable cause of death and
disease, goes against the important and growing role pharmacies play in Americans’
well-being.
 “Tobacco-free pharmacy policies could help reduce access to tobacco products and
exposure to tobacco product advertising, as well as de-normalize tobacco use,” said
Corinne Graffunder, director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health.
o By eliminating tobacco sales, pharmacies can also help increase awareness of the
health consequences of smoking and better support their customers’ management
of tobacco-related diseases.
 Tobacco use is an established concern among pharmacists, whose professional obligation
is to promote the health of their patients.

 More than 16 million Americans currently live with a smoking-related illness, and
cigarette smoking can complicate chronic disease management.

 Even large companies are agreeing, "By eliminating the sale of cigarettes and tobacco
products in our stores, we can make a difference in the health of all Americans," CVS
CEO Larry Merlo said when the ban took effect last September. To coincide with the
smoke ban, CVS also changed its name from CVS Caremark to CVS Health.

 “People look to pharmacies to improve and support their health,” said CDC Director Tom
Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “Selling tobacco products, the leading preventable cause of death
and disease, goes against the important and growing role pharmacies play in Americans’
well-being

 High concentrations of stores selling tobacco are associated with higher smoking rates
and decreased success in quitting.

 A Truth Initiative® survey showed that nearly three-quarters — 73 percent — of

Walgreens shoppers surveyed say the pharmacy chain should ban the sale of tobacco
products. Eighty-two percent of Walgreens shoppers agree that “the primary focus of
stores with pharmacies should be selling products that help people stay and get healthy.”

 Between 2012 and 2017, Walgreens was caught selling tobacco products to minors 1,296
times, representing about once in every 10 inspections.

 Asked to rate the reduced cigarette access from the CVS decision as either “good” or
“bad,” 44% called it good, saying that, despite them being harder to buy, “I want to quit
smoking and this helps.”
 Sixty-six percent of U.S. adults favor a ban on tobacco products in pharmacy stores,
including nearly half of smokers, according to a 2014 survey from the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
 Since 1964, approximately 2,500,000 non-smokers have died from health problems
caused by second hand smoke.
 For older people, second hand smoke can cause heart disease, strokes, and lung cancer.

 For younger people, second hand smoke can cause asthma attacks, respiratory infections,
and a higher risk for SIDS.(Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)

 Walgreens shareholders petitioned to the pharmacies board of directors to let the

shareholders vote on selling tobacco, executives blocked the vote however according to a
petition launched by truth
 “According to CDC, cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths every year in
the United States, and life expectancy for smokers is at least 10 years shorter than for
nonsmokers.”
  “Pharmacists and pharmacies need to play a key role in helping people quit. Pharmacies
are a natural place for people to go for help to quit. Almost all pharmacies across the
nation sell nicotine replacement therapies and are readily accessible to advise patients on
the right product for them.”

 “CVS Pharmacy stopped selling and “the average smoker in those states purchased five
fewer cigarette packs and, in total, approximately 95 million fewer packs were sold.”

 “Not surprisingly, tobacco users find it difficult to quit when it is sold in the same stores
where they fill prescriptions. Pharmacies, as access points for health products and
services, create confusion when they sell tobacco, conveying implied approval of tobacco
use.”

 “Promoting health and at the same time selling products that are responsible for an
enormous amount of disease, disability, and death are activities that are in direct
conflict.”

 263,000 people got lung cancer due to secondhand smoking. 1965-2014

 “Mayer said independent pharmacists who are worried about losing cigarette and tobacco
sales should instead get involved with getting reimbursed for counseling patients on
smoking cessation. “You can now get $100 per patient in MTM reimbursement [for
smoking cessation counseling],” Mayer said. Additionally, since it takes smokers an
average of 13 times to quit, Mayer said many will return to the pharmacy more than once
for counseling and supplies such as patches.”

 “ Based on these findings, if retailers with pharmacies across the country were to forego
sales of tobacco products, the result could be 25,000 to 60,000 fewer tobacco-related
deaths annually.”

 Everyone will be healthier, like adults and kids, from second hand smoking and smokers.
(Second hand smoking can cause severe asthma and lung infections)

Debate Questions:
1. Why would you want to promote an unhealthy drug in a store where medicine aimed for
health?
2. Why would you sell cigarettes in the same store as items to help quitters stop smoking?
3. Why would you sell cigarettes if you put a no smoking sign up on your store?
4. Why would you sell them if there are posters saying that you shouldn’t smoke?
5. What would the benefit of selling cigarettes be except for the money the company would
make?
6. Why would you want to make the problem of addiction worse if you are trying to help it
at the same time?
 7. How would selling cigarettes in pharmacies help the younger generation make better
choices?
8. How would keeping cigarettes in CVS and selling them beneficial to the environment
when people just throw finished cigarettes on the ground in the front of the store?
9. Selling cigarettes could mean that people will start smoking in front of the store. There
are children and elderly people constantly walking in. This could give them second hand
smoking problems and other medical respiratory problems triggered by second hand
smoke. How are you going to prevent this if you sell cigarettes in the store?
10. Although there are posters in the malls saying that smoking is not permitted, people are
still going to smoke because there are cigarettes available at the drug stores in the
mall. Why would the mall let someone sell something that is not permitted in the mall.
11. Most times, these drug stores who sell cigarettes are around schools and especially high
schools. What is the positive influence of cigarettes in cabinets behind the cashier
counters? If there is any.
12. How would selling cigarettes in pharmacies help people who want to quit smoking?
13. If they keep selling cigarettes in pharmacies how would know the risks of smoking?
14. How is selling cigarettes promoting health for adults and children?

Counter claims:
Harder to buy cigarettes:
 Sold at other stores and gas stations.
 Pharmacies objective is help people and encourage them to be more healthy.

Other businesses gaining more profit:

 Research has shown, pharmacies have been gaining more profit off the sales of
alternative nicotine products that help consumers quit smoking.

CVS losing $2 billion after stopping sales of cigarettes:

 In 2014, CVS Health became the first national retail pharmacy chain to stop selling
tobacco products. After implementing the new policy, CVS Health reported that annual
revenues increased in 2014 and 2015.

Smoking for therapy, rely on cigarettes. Only cigarettes help:

 Cigarettes destroy your body, inside and out.
 Cigarettes are being sold at other stores.


-Even though people who smoke are okay with the health problems they face while smoking,
they don’t realize the damage that smoking does to young and older passer-bys who walk around
them when they smoke.

Answers (Counter Arguments)

 1. Even though many businesses are getting more profit on selling cigarettes it is bad for
people's health because smoking cigarettes can be very addictive and harmful.
2. Even though people say that smoking is for their own therapy, in what ways does it help
them.
3. Even though pharmacies can make money off the customers that buy prescriptions from
them, how are they suppose to promote a healthy lifestyle if they keep selling cigarettes.
4. Even though stores put up no smoking signs, people are still going to smoke around the
area. This can give people second hand smoking symptoms.
5.

Sources:
https://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/blog/morning_call/2014/02/longs-drugs-parent-cvs-
caremark-to.html
https://leanforward.hms.harvard.edu/2017/09/07/does-increasing-cigarette-prices-impact-
consumption/
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/p0901-pharmacies-tobacco.html
https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/inde
x.htm
https://truthinitiative.org/news/its-time-pharmacies-stop-selling-tobacco
https://www.chainstoreage.com/news/heres-what-consumers-think-about-cvs-ban-tobacco-
products/
https://www.wolterskluwercdi.com/blog/tobacco-sales-pharmacy/
https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10.1513/AnnalsATS.201504-229ED
https://www.pharmacist.com/CEOBlog/combatting-tobacco-use-pharmacists-are-key
https://cvshealth.com/thought-leadership/cvs-health-research-institute/we-quit-tobacco-heres-
what-happened-next https://www.changelabsolutions.org/infographic/tobacco-free-pharmacies
https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/secondhand_smoke/general_facts/index.
htm
https://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/50-years-of-progress/exec-summary.pdf