CVS made the decision to stop selling tobacco products in their stores, and one year later, the brand believes their decision has reduced the number of smokers in the U.S., according to Fox News.
The store is saying that in states where it had a major presence, there was a one percent decrease in cigarette sales.
The company's study took data from the 13 states where the its market presence was valued at a minimum of 15 percent; they found that in those states 95 million less tobacco packs were sold, compared to places where the store's presence was not as strong, according to the Indy Channel.
Furthermore, the study points to a 4 percent upsurge in nicotine patch purchases to bolster their claim, according to USA Today.
Some do not believe that the store can make such claims, especially since it only held a reported two percent of the tobacco industry's sales.
"...The bold claim that its decision to stop selling cigarettes actually got a significant number of smokers to just buy the mostly ineffective nicotine patches and quit smoking, only illustrates how little the company knows about the difficulty of quitting," said Jeff Stier of the National Center for Public Policy Research.
