Whether you smoke a pack day or hate cigarettes or both, we are sure you have noticed. All the drug store chains in Queens sell cigarettes. The same stores also sell nicotine patches and nicotine gum at $40 a pack or more to help people break the smoking habit. And very often the cigarettes and the anti−smoking aids are right next to one another.
Don’t these store managers see the contradiction? How can they justify selling the tobacco products that cause addiction and deadly diseases and sell overpriced products designed to help smokers quit?
It is a good business model. First, they help you get sick and then help you break the habit. They also profit from the sale of medicines to deal with the cancer, lung disease, etc. The business model breaks down when the customer dies.
There can be no pharmacist who does not understand the dangers of smoking. These stores routinely place over−the−counter medicines containing pseudoephedrine behind the counter so the pharmacist can make sure it does not fall into the wrong hands. But they have no problem with allowing cashiers to peddle known carcinogens at the check−out.
Cigarettes and tobacco products should not be sold in pharmacies. The profits from the sale of cigarettes must be substantial, but selling them contradicts everything these stores claim to stand for.
