Boston Bans Cigarette Sales In Drug Stores

CBS Evening News: Beantown Widens Its Effort To Get Its Residents To Kick The Habit; Now Taking Aim At Cigar Bars

(CBS)  Boston will become the nation’s second city to ban the sale of cigarettes by pharmacies on Monday, as new rules approved by the city’s public health commission take effect.

The regulations passed by the commission two months ago also ban colleges from selling tobacco products on campus and will force smoking bars to shut their doors within a decade, reports CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston.

“In 10 years, all smoking bars in Boston should be gone,” Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the commission’s executive director, tells CBS News.

There are only 11 left, and the city vows not to license any more. Health officials are especially perturbed at the emergence of half a dozen of hookah bars, which cater to college students and young adults.

“Once you get started, quitting is very hard,” Hallet says. “We still have a half a million deaths a year in the country every year that are attributable to the use of tobacco.”

The direct financial impact on pharmacies is expected to be small, as cigarettes account for just one-to-three percent of sales.

At Sullivan's Pharmacy, a family-owned drug store in Boston, owner Gregory Laham worries about diminished foot traffic, but will remove cigarettes from the shelves without protest.

"We know the dangers of smoking, and I support the ban,” Laham, tells CBS News. "As a pharmacist, it's obvious; we shouldn't be selling cigarettes."

The largest number of pharmacies in Boston belong to CVS and Walgreens, and both chains say they will comply with the new rules and are working on new merchandise displays.

San Francisco last year imposed the first municpal ban on cigarette sales by pharmacies, and the Berkeley-based Americans for Non-Smokers Rights foundation hopes a trend is underway.

“We’re bound to see other cities follow suit, the foundation's executive director, Cynthia Hallet, tells CBS News.“You shouldn’t be able to buy tobacco products from your health service provider.”

More controversial is the limit on cigar bars.

“Our goal is one of promoting health and safety for workers and for residents,” says Ferrer. “What we are saying is that if you personally smoke, we should reduce the exposure your smoking habit may have on somebody else, in particular on workers.”

But cigar bars bristle at the notion that their employees object to second-hand smoke.

“There is second-hand smoke, but we have state of the art humidifiers and smoke eaters," George Gilio, the general manager of Cigar Masters in Boston, says. During our visit, we noticed one bartender there lighting up.

“We have ten years to prove them wrong, and I think we’ll do it,” Gilio says.

“All the people that come to work for me come to work for me because they embrace the lifestyle. They enjoy this business. They’re all smokers," Barry Macdonald, whose family took over Churcill's Lounge in the early 1970s says.

“My position is - it’s legal, if you’re an adult, you can make a rational decision about it,” Macdonald says.

Which echoes the feelings of the bars' clientele.

"It should be a choice," said a Swedish woman visiting Cigar Masters who would only give her first name, Nillo. "Do I want to eat a hamburger today or do I want to eat fish today? Do I want to have a cigarette or do I not want to have a cigarette? And as a human being, am I willing to work in a smoking environment or am I not willing to work in a smoking environment?”

“We’re adults. We have the right to choose. I choose to come into this place,” says Alan Dines, a regular at Cigar Masters. “These are legal products. These are not banned products, and they’re trying to regulate items that are not banned."

The original draft of Boston's new regulation would have withdrawn the cigar bar licenses within five years, but amidst the worsening receccsion, the owners prevailed for a longer reprieve.

“I think it will hurt a very fragile economy,” says Robert Shick, another Cigar Masters patron.

Still, smoke-free laws are becoming commonplace across the country. Already 27 states ban smoking in restaruants, while 22 do so in the workplace, according to Americans for NonSmokers' Rights. Hundreds of colleges have restricted smoking in housing and on campus.

“Smoke-free laws protect people from exposure to a known carcinogen, and this is a way to protect the public health,” sast Hallet.

The Boston health commission points to a study Massachusetts conducted with Harvard University which estimated there were 577 fewer than expected heart attack deaths every year since the state imposed its smoke-free workplace law four years ago.

“If I had my druthers, the tobacco industry would not be able to spend over a billion dollars every year advertising a lethal product,” commission head Ferrer says. “Tobacco kills more people every year than alcohol deaths and murder and suicide combined.”

But it's not that simple for the cigar bar owners facing extinction.

“This is my livelihood. This is what I do. You know, I have two children, a wife, a mortgage, like a lot of other people," Macdonald says. "It wouldn’t be good.”

[tikay93]

"The right of a nonsmoker to breath trumps a smoker's right to light up."


*breathe, not breath. Sorry :)

[tikay93]

The right of a nonsmoker to breath trumps a smoker's right to light up. Breathing is a vital human function, and inhaling second-hand smoke is detrimental to anyone's organs.

"# Exposure of adults to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer.

Supporting Evidence

<b> * Concentrations of many cancer-causing and toxic chemicals are higher in secondhand smoke than in the smoke inhaled by smokers. </b>
* Breathing secondhand smoke for even a short time can have immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and interferes with the normal functioning of the heart, blood, and vascular systems in ways that increase the risk of a heart attack.
* Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25 - 30 percent.
* Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing lung cancer by 20 - 30 percent."

http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/secondhandsmoke/factsheets/factsheet6.html

If someone chooses to contaminate themselves, they have the free will to do that. That is their "choice". But no one should be allowed to subject any unwilling person to that pollution.

Elisabeth Greene
Former resident of Holliston, MA
Current resident of Wilmington, NC

[MichaelJMcFadden]

CloverNYC might want to believe in Anonymous posters. I prefer communicating with those who are willing to represent themselves and their views openly.

The important thing in any posting however is the actual information within it and the willingness of the poster to back that information up if it is questioned or attacked.

Michael J. McFadden
Author of "Dissecting Antismokers'' Brains"

[ciovernyc]

You''re right Cantiloper, I have changed my mind. I think it is up to the individual to decide, not government. We are turning into a big brother society where we are being told what to do, when to do it like good little puppets. It is time we all stood up for ourselves, take on Scienctology, because I believe the Scientologists are to blame. They are now in charge, and only one group can stop them from global domination. We all need to believe in Anonymous and hope they come to our aid.

[cantiioper]

Why do I deal with issues like this?

Michael J. McFadden
Author of "Dissecting Antismokers'''' Brains"

[MichaelJMcFadden]

Clover, I know this may be difficult to understand, but "Cantiloper" is a "screen name" that I use. I''ve used it for close to 15 years. Enter it into Google and you''ll see.

Let me go back to drinking my glass of "poison" here. It''s actually tap water, but it has the same amount of arsenic in it as I''d get sitting in a smoking bar for about 165,000 hours so it MUST be "poison," right? Sheesh! Don''t they teach science in high school anymore?

Michael J. McFadden
Author of "Dissecting Antismokers'' Brains"

[achrome]

cigars are a different story, and shouldn''t be included in this smoking ban. i agree that banning tobacco sales on college campuses might hurt the economy and those involved in its sale initially, but it is technically the right thing to be doing. but cigar shops? and cigar lounges? come on, wake up and realize cigars are in a different class than cigarettes, and the lounges are separated from any neighboring business. you don''t have to go in, and from outside all you can really smell is the faint wood-like smell of cigars. they are well-ventilated and don''t affect anybody else than who chooses to go in and relax for a while. those enforcing this just need to be less harsh, as the guy being interviewed said, for many it is their way of life, and they rely on it to get by.

[clovernyc]

Next time I`m in Boston I`m gonna fire up a joint in a restaraunt.
Posted by gosukabug at 01:12 AM : Feb 10, 2009
------------------

I double triple demon dare ya

[clovernyc]

I smoke outside - not inside, not in my car - and if anyone is around me outside I ask if it`s alright before I even take my cigarettes out of my coat pocket.
Posted by jennmarie620 at 09:45 PM : Feb 09, 2009
---------------------------

It`s like asking your victim if it`s okay to poison him.

Addicts always defend their addiction, and will go down swinging even when they know the last bell means a slow painful death.

Kill yourself. All I`m saying is you have NO right to poison the air I breathe with your nasty habit.

[clovernyc]

Michael J. McFadden
Author of ''Dissecting Antismokers` Brains''
Posted by Cantiloper at 11:19 PM : Feb 09, 2009
------------------

Quoting an idiot only makes you a bigger idiot.

[gosukabug]

Next time I''m in Boston I''m gonna fire up a joint in a restaraunt.

[rollaire]

LOL, How barbaric. I am not even a smoker and think Boston is a foul, nasty place.

RT
www.Privacy-Center.net

[MichaelJMcFadden]

Clover wrote, "No one should be forced to inhale disgusting toxic lung waste." I agree. We need to ban breathing anyplace where I might go. Normal exhaled human breath is an excretion mechanism for bodily wastes. We defecate, we urinate, we perspirate, and we respirate... with all four functions serving to rid our bodies of poisons. Exhaled breath contains acetone, isoprene, acetonitrile, benzene, hexane, toluene and many other deadly chemicals.

I should be able to go to a bar without having to breathe all that nastiness and poison from other customers.

Plus my service would be much better.

Michael J. McFadden
Author of "Dissecting Antismokers'' Brains"

[stupidrules3]

They will be coming for your french fries next. Then your Haagen-Dazs. Then your coffee. Then your car. Then your video games. Then your couch. One day the government will plan your whole life for you. When you get up, what you have for breakfast, where you work, how you get there, and what you will be allowed to do when you get home. Be careful, the government is willing to take care of you and if you let them, they will. I guess this is okay if you are a sheep.

[jennmarie620]

I smoke outside - not inside, not in my car - and if anyone is around me outside I ask if it''s alright before I even take my cigarettes out of my coat pocket.

That being said, I have a right to smoke a cigarette the same as anyone has a right to eat a Krispy Kreme donut or the same as anyone has a right to drink a six pack of beer on game day or the same as anyone has a right to eat at McDonald''s every day for breakfast and lunch. I hurt no one with my smoking, and I have a right to do with my body as I please.

The day that someone comes in and dictates how I treat my body is the day that life on this planet has truly become worthless.

[crzmeat1]

GramaWhama...You still posting GREAT..hope all is well the blog is getting really congested with folks personal agenda..Keep posting..I smoke so no one cares about my views, worked as a nurse nearly 10 years never saw a second hand smoke case did see a bunch of lung cancer of non smokers and COPD a lot were they had amonia{?} as children. No one mentions the trash coming out of thier tailpipes much worse...

[toolmangler-2009]

No one should be forced to inhale disgusting toxic lung waste
Posted by CloverNYC at 11:46 AM : Feb 09, 2009




My feelings perzactly, So, don''t breathe while you are near it, walk away.

[grammawhamma]

I lived in California for three years and was surprised that they sold alcohol in pharmacies because they do not in Wisconsin. I''''ve always said that the removing of personal freedoms started with smoking bans and it will only get worse. I totally agree that smoking should be banned in all restaurants but if bars want to allow smoking then let them. A few years ago in Madison a bar opened and it was a non-smoking bar. Business was so bad that they eventually allowed people to smoke in there. Then a few years later came the Madison smoking ban and several mom and pop bars went out of business because the people just weren''''t coming in any more.

Posted by happyass3 at 01:13 PM : Feb 09, 2009


Wisconsin pharmacies in my area still sell alcohol. Must just be a Madison thing.

[clovernyc]

I love it. The smoking laws are backfiring on big pharma, who created the laws to begin with. Way to go.
Posted by generalsn at 05:56 PM : Feb 09, 2009
-----------------

Delusion du jour.

[generalsn]

I love it. The smoking laws are backfiring on big pharma, who created the laws to begin with. Way to go.