To the editor,
In recent news, CVS/Caremark has announced their plans to end all tobacco sales by October 1 of this year.
This is a huge step forward for public health.
It has been a conflict of interest for pharmacies, providers of health care, to also profit from the sale of harmful products such as tobacco, known to cause cancer, heart and pulmonary diseases.
No doctor would prescribe tobacco so why would a pharmacy sell it?
Selling tobacco products doesn’t fit a pharmacy’s mission of providing health products and services.
In fact, reducing the availability of tobacco products helps people to quit.
CVS’s decision to remove tobacco products from their pharmacies is a step in the right direction to working together as a community to improve our residents’ health.
CVS is not the first pharmacy to recognize the importance of eliminating tobacco products in our local stores.
Did you know the overwhelming majority of independently owned pharmacies in Oswego County already don’t sell tobacco?
Many of the mom and pop pharmacies have chosen to put the health of our residents above a profit.
We thank the pharmacies that have made this decision to demonstrate their commitment for supporting the health of our community.
Further, we encourage all local pharmacies to consider their role as the neighborhood expert for improving health.
Abby Jenkins Wrolsen
Program Coordinator of the Tobacco Free Network of Oswego County
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I am extremely impressed with a company that will foresake massive profits for the health of their customers. I think we, who want to see healthier generations, should shop at CVS to help offset this loss. I know I will when I can.