(San Francisco supervisors) Board to vote on expanding ban on tobacco sales (in stores w/pharmacies)

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Packs of cigarettes line the back wall of Charlie's, a corner store in the Western Addition, while just feet away sits a pharmacy with a scoreboard-like device flashing flu prevention tips.

It's a juxtaposition the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is expected to quash today as it votes on legislation to ban selling tobacco products in any stores containing pharmacies.

That means no more tossing a pack of cigarettes into the cart at Safeway or Costco - and, according to Charlie's owner Nick Shoman, the possible death of his family's 23-year-old business. Or at least its pharmacy, which is a money-loser, while cigarettes account for 8 percent of his profit.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/21/BA0I1FGPAD.DTL

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What? So a store has a pharmacy (losing money) in one section but is profiting from tobacco. Wouldn't the best business decision be to keep the most profitable items (in this case cigarettes), while in the case of health needs keep the pharmacy?

Mayor Gavin Newsom will sign this if the Board passes this. I think that the Board is proposing this law in effect because the businesses have had a chance to regulate their own structures (by not ridiculously putting together a pharmacy and cigarettes section) but didn't.

[HereSince1628]

1. Walgreens in Milwaukee area are adding liquor to their pharmacies

I can only assume that this is to meet the need of the self-medicating public that cannot afford medically sanctioned and prescribed treatment.

[Warpy]

3. They've always sold it here in NM

It's where I go to get the little honor bar bottles of booze I use when I'm cooking something that calls for a few tablespoons full of bourbon, brandy, or vodka.

Again, it's a drug and it's legal. As long as they're not selling it to kids, I see no problem.

[Warpy]

2. Nicotine is a drug and I see no inconsistency selling it next to pharmaceuticals

Let's not get too pious here, folks. The only sales ban I was in favor of were those vending machines because kids used them. While I think it would be a little strange for a hospital gift shop to sell cigarettes (job security?), I wouldn't want to see them legally banned there, either.

A lot of stores make their money selling cigarettes. Depriving them of this through some misplaced piety is wrong. Tobacco is a legal product and the only restriction on sales should be to kids.

Still, please set fire to those things outdoors instead of indoors. You do that much, we'll get along just fine.

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

4. how dare they sell their adult products in a way the government disagrees with!

I mean, if the mayor doesn't want you to sell smokes in your pharmacy, his word should be law, right? I mean, we elect these people to keep us safe and tell us what choices to make, don't we?

What a load.