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CVS tobacco ban just the start. Next: soda
The Boston Globe ^ | February 8, 2014 | Derrick Z. Jackson

Posted on 02/09/2014 2:20:11 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

IT IS GREAT CVS is ending cigarette sales by October, and I know exactly what other dangerous products should go behind the counter when the wall of cancer sticks comes down: Coke, Pepsi, Gatorade, Red Bull, and all other sugary beverages. I say this because I take CVS’s new public health pronouncements seriously.

In announcing the tobacco ban, CVS chief medical officer Troyen Brennan said the drugstore industry is positioning itself to offer more clinical services for chronic diseases. He wrote Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association that it is a “paradox” to sell cigarettes as pharmacies work with primary care clinicians to treat hypertension, diabetes, and other conditions “exacerbated by smoking.”

If CVS truly cares about all the sources of diabetes and other preventable diseases, soda should be the next target. Two days before Brennan’s op-ed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the most dramatic findings yet linking high sugar consumption to heart disease. The WHO and the American Heart Association recommend that less than 10 percent of a person’s daily calories should come from the added sugars found in processed foods, snacks, and beverages. But 71 percent of Americans exceed that figure.

The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that people whose added sugars comprise between 10 to 25 percent of their calories were at 30 percent higher risk of dying from heart disease...

(Excerpt) Read more at bostonglobe.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: cigarettes; cvs; foodpolice; nannystate; pufflist; smoking; soda; tobacco
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To: ronnie raygun
About 57% of the cost of a pack is comprised of local, state and federal taxes.

57% of $2 Billion is....
$1.14 Billion in lost tax revenue
CVS isn't paying their 'fair share' :>)

41 posted on 02/09/2014 5:46:11 AM PST by libertarian27 (FreeRepublic Cookbooks 2011 & 2012 - Click Profile)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

We should ban news print. It’s for the trees, you know.


42 posted on 02/09/2014 5:47:39 AM PST by Islander7 (There is no septic system so vile, so filthy, the left won't drink from to further their agenda)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

CVS built up too much, too fast. Such bubble expansions court disaster, both because you do not see overexpansion, and it is extra hard to go into a stability mode.

When I go into a CVS what I notice are that its prices for everything are a third to a half higher than for Walgreens.

Importantly, cigarettes are both low volume and high margin for retailers, despite the greedy federal and state taxes, so I imagine that CVS is going to take a hit to the bottom line, and get nothing out of the deal.

In as precarious as their economic circumstances, that may be like waving a needle around their bubble.


43 posted on 02/09/2014 5:53:21 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy (WoT News: Rantburg.com)
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To: Fzob
I have no problem with this action by CVS. It is their business and they get to run their stores as the wish.

The highest percentage of US racial groups that smokes is blacks. Maybe CVS is racist...

44 posted on 02/09/2014 5:59:33 AM PST by GOPJ (The Nation's divided between those who are to be fooled and those who do the fooling.Greenfield)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I informed the Subway shop near us that if they put Obama’s picture up, I’m going to Chick-Fila.


45 posted on 02/09/2014 6:01:40 AM PST by tbw2
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To: ronnie raygun

People complain about Big Oil but it’s Big Government that takes MORE out of your wallet in taxes than Big Oil makes in profits. Road work needed, just jack up the gas tax again (or up the tolls...)


46 posted on 02/09/2014 6:02:06 AM PST by raccoonradio
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

This is a non event. So what if a pharmacy no longer sells tobacco? Pharmacies used to sell laudenum, and gasoline. In fact when cars were first invented the pharmacy was the only place to buy gas. Now they don’t sell laudenum or gas anymore. Big deal. If you want tobacco go to the tobacco shop. Its a lot cheaper than CVS.


47 posted on 02/09/2014 6:11:16 AM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’m hearing a bunch of communists trying to tell CVS what they may and may not do in their stores.


48 posted on 02/09/2014 6:20:34 AM PST by Born to Conserve
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’m a smoker, but as many other commenters have said, I nonetheless support CVS for making its own private business decision.

I also see the logic of a pharmacy — that is morphing into a medical facility — not selling a product that is a proven contributor to chronic health issues. I wonder if CVS will stop selling booze, too, as they now do in California....


49 posted on 02/09/2014 6:24:07 AM PST by Wombat Ark (Love your life, respect your life, and beautify all things in your life. -- Tecumseh)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Smells like Germany in the1930’s.


50 posted on 02/09/2014 6:31:37 AM PST by Dr. Ursus
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To: Graybeard58

I don’t have a beef with beef jerky, but it does have a lot of animal fat and salt, which isn’t the best for some people if they eat a lot of it.

I just want to call out CVS on this BS. If they don’t want to sell cigarettes because they are unhealthy, then they shouldn’t sell anything that could be unhealthy for anyone.


51 posted on 02/09/2014 6:31:39 AM PST by Right Wing Assault
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To: relictele
There aren’t many people buying Bugler tobacco these days

There are many more people buying Bugler these days than 5 years ago because of the cost of ready-made cigarettes. For the same money, you get more smokes out of a package of Bugler than a pack of Marlboros.

Of course, some are growing their own, now, in response to stupidly high taxes.

This one is growing out of season, but I let it live because it's pretty. I've got 180 seedlings that will be ready for the big garden in March.

/johnny

52 posted on 02/09/2014 6:40:33 AM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Fzob

I agree with you, so long as its their decision to make. What I would object to is some type of government support or push to get retailers to stop selling certain items, e.g., a tax credit to not sell soda.


53 posted on 02/09/2014 6:42:55 AM PST by ops33 (Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Retired))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
If CVS truly cares about all the sources of diabetes and other preventable diseases, soda should be the next target.

That's a big "if"....

First of all soda and energy drinks are not addictive like cigarettes...

Nobody walks into a CVS and a clerk puts a gun to the customer head to make them buy a sugar laden drink...

Secondly, soda sales are a HUGE part of CVS profits...

Soft drink companies pay nice sums of marketing funds to display and put their products in the weekly ads promoting their brand...

Getting rid of beer and wine sales would make better sense if CVS has safety and heath concerns...

54 posted on 02/09/2014 6:50:45 AM PST by Popman ("Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God" - Thomas Jefferson)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Most likely CVS looked the the profits they we making on cigarettes and the cost involved in paying for the permits and fees associated with carrying them in their stores...

I can assure you it's a tidy sum...

Every inch of space in a retail outlet needs to be justified...cigs probably didn't meet that criteria...

The CEO is just making a smart PR move...

55 posted on 02/09/2014 6:59:12 AM PST by Popman ("Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God" - Thomas Jefferson)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I doubt they’ll dump soda. From a business perspective cigarettes are a pain to sell, high levels of taxation, high levels of space, low levels of profit, high levels of government oversight, dramatic changes in the law from region to region with many of the laws being annoying and stupid (in my city we force stores to keep their cigs where no one underage could STEAL them). And of course if you carry cigarettes you carry lighters, and in this WOD world lighters have been known to be tied to some odd regulations too. With a smaller and smaller percentage of the population smoking there are good business reasons to dump cigs. Soda has really none of those issues. Sure their EXCUSES for dumping cigs might apply, but that’s just PR, soda is good business.


56 posted on 02/09/2014 7:03:18 AM PST by discostu (I don't meme well.)
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To: Fzob
I have no problem with this action by CVS. It is their business and they get to run their stores as the wish.

Too bad Hobby Lobby doesn't have that option...

57 posted on 02/09/2014 7:03:39 AM PST by Popman ("Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God" - Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Popman

Plus,
now they won’t have to keep an employee of legal smoking age
behind the front counter in order to sell them.


58 posted on 02/09/2014 7:08:30 AM PST by Repeal The 17th (We have met the enemy and he is us.)
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To: Popman
First of all soda and energy drinks are not addictive like cigarettes...
Nobody walks into a CVS and a clerk puts a gun to the customer head to make them buy a sugar laden drink...

What? Where are you going with that?

59 posted on 02/09/2014 7:16:42 AM PST by libertarian27 (FreeRepublic Cookbooks 2011 & 2012 - Click Profile)
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To: Fzob

I always found it odd that drug stores sold tobacco products, candy, soda, etc. since the health industry is all about people cutting down on consuming that stuff.


60 posted on 02/09/2014 7:20:41 AM PST by perez24 (Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap.)
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