CVS/Caremark announced on Wednesday, Feb.5 that it will stop selling cigarettes and tobacco products. According to Fox news, more than 7,600 CVS stores will remove all tobacco products from its shelves by October 1. This move makes the company the first drugstore chain in the U.S. to do so.
"Ending the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS/pharmacy is the right thing for us to do for our customers and our company to help people on their path to a better health," Larry J. Merlo, president and CEO of CVS Caremark, said in a statement CNN reports. "Put simply, the sale of tobacco products is inconsistent with our purpose."
The move has been praised by health experts who said CVS is setting precedence for other pharmacies to do the same. According to Fox, CVS believes this move will help "strengthen their position as a healthcare provider."
"I think it will put pressure on other retailers who want to be in healthcare," CVS Caremark Chief Medical Officer Dr. Troyen Brennan told Fox.
Matthew Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, told the site that he hopes CVS' decision could lead to a lower number in tobacco use.
President Barack Obama also praised CVS/Caremark for being a leader in the decision to remove tobacco products from their shelves.
"As one of the largest retailers and pharmacies in America, CVS Caremark sets a powerful example, and today's decision will help advance my administration's efforts to reduce tobacco-related deaths, cancer, and heart disease, as well as bring down health care costs - ultimately saving lives and protecting untold numbers of families from pain and heartbreak for years to come," the president said in a statement.
"This is an important, bold public health decision by a major retail pharmacy to act on the long understood reality that blending providing health care and providing cigarettes just doesn't match," Dr. Richard Wender, chief cancer control officer at the American Cancer Society, told CNN.
Target Corp. stopped selling cigarettes in 1996 and Wegmans, an East Coast supermarket chain dropped the product in 2008.
