MASSACHUSETTS: Town Considers A First-In-Nation Ban On Tobacco Sales

Via the Associated Press:

The cartons of Marlboros, cans of Skoal and packs of Swisher Sweets are hard to miss stacked near the entrance of Vincent’s Country Store, but maybe not for much longer: All tobacco products could become contraband if local health officials get their way. This sleepy central Massachusetts town of 7,700 has become an improbable battleground in America’s tobacco wars. On Wednesday, the Board of Health will hear public comment on a proposed regulation that could make Westminster the first municipality in the United States to ban sales of all tobacco products within town lines. “To my knowledge, it would be the first in the nation to enact a total ban,” said Thomas Carr, director of national policy at the American Lung Association. “We commend the town for doing it.”

Tobacco giant Altria, the makers of Marlboro, Virginia Slims, and dozens of other cigarette brands, is very unhappy: "The proposed regulations, if enacted, would fundamentally alter these businesses and would likely cost Westminster jobs."

Petition To Walgreens: No More Tobacco

Earlier this month CVS announced that it would stop selling cigarettes, a move that will take a $2B chunk out of the company's annual grosses, at least until they decide how to fill those shelves behind the chain's few remaining staffed check-out stations. And now there's a petition for Walgreens, the nation's largest drugstore chain, to do the same. (Walgreens bought NYC's 257 Duane Reade stores in 2010.)

CVS To Stop Selling Cigarettes

CVS Caremark, the nation's second largest drugstore chain with over 7600 locations, has announced that they will phase out all tobacco sales by the end of the year.

The company declined to say what will take tobacco's prominent shelf place behind cash registers at the front of its stores. CVS Caremark will test some items and may expand smoking cessation products that are already sold near cigarettes. CVS Caremark has been working to team up with hospital groups and doctor practices to help deliver and monitor patient care, and the presence of tobacco in its stores has made for some awkward conversations, CVS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Troyen A. Brennan said. "One of the first questions they ask us is, 'Well, if you're going to be part of the health care system, how can you continue to sell tobacco products?'" he said. "There's really no good answer to that at all."

President Obama has issued a statement which praises the company for the move, which is expected to cut annual sales by about $2B.

Sarah Palin At NRA Convention

Christian Science Monitor notes: "Sarah Palin chewing tobacco? Speaking at the NRA annual meeting, Sarah Palin pulled out a tin of chewing tobacco to tweak NYC Mayor Bloomberg for his proposed ban on displaying tobacco products." At the 6:00 mark.

DOD To Ban Smoking?

The Pentagon is considering banning the use and sale of tobacco products for U.S. soldiers.

Pentagon health experts are urging Defense Secretary Robert Gates to ban the use of tobacco by troops and end its sale on military property, a change that could dramatically alter a culture intertwined with smoking. Jack Smith, head of the Pentagon's office of clinical and program policy, says he will recommend that Gates adopt proposals by a federal study that cites rising tobacco use and higher costs for the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs as reasons for the ban. The study by the Institute of Medicine, requested by the VA and Pentagon, calls for a phased-in ban over a period of years, perhaps up to 20. "We'll certainly be taking that recommendation forward," Smith says. A tobacco ban would confront a military culture, the report says, in which "the image of the battle-weary soldier in fatigues and helmet, fighting for his country, has frequently included his lit cigarette." Also, the report said, troops worn out by repeated deployments often rely on cigarettes as a "stress reliever." The study found that tobacco use in the military increased after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began.

An estimated 37% of U.S. soldiers use tobacco and that number rises to more than 50% if the soldier has seen combat.