A commentary by the president and chief operating officer of London Drugs Limited.
Re: “Cigarette sales in pharmacies are a disgrace,” comment, Dec. 8.
London Drugs firmly believes that providing anti-smoking messages and assistance at the point of purchase is the only way we can help our customers reduce tobacco use. Until it is deemed an illegal product, responsibly selling tobacco with regulations and deterrents is invariably one of the most targeted ways to help people quit smoking.
The fact is, responsible retailers such as London Drugs have a critical role in helping people to stop smoking where other kinds of retailers cannot or choose not to. There is a huge difference in the experience smokers have when purchasing tobacco at London Drugs versus a local convenience store or gas station.
When smokers come to purchase tobacco at London Drugs, aside from being asked for identification, they receive a brochure offering counselling and tips on how to quit and have immediate access to trained smoking-cessation pharmacists.
These deterrents and education at the point of purchase are not happening outside a drugstore environment. Smokers are not getting this direct communication to quit and offers of assistance in a corner store or gas station.
If you take tobacco out of stores with pharmacies, it will drive people to corner stores and gas stations who have no health-care motivation — their only motivation is to maximize tobacco sales.
Addiction specialists of all types advocate for immediate access to cessation support at the time the consumer is ready to quit. The B.C. government, the federal government and governments around the world have felt strongly about the impact of point-of-purchase messaging and counselling, requiring changes to package labelling and how products are displayed and sold.
We don’t want people to start smoking and we must help people who do smoke to quit.
Tobacco is a horrible product that has significant impact on lives and families and affects health-care budgets of any society. Everything should be done to help prevent people from smoking and to quit smoking if they have started. London Drugs’ goal is the same as others in the medical profession, which is to stamp out smoking and the use of tobacco products.
The biggest question we, as society, must ask ourselves is: As long as governments determine this is a legal product to be sold, what retail model should it be sold in so we can target people with direct messaging, support and resources to help them quit?
Since 2011, London Drugs has conducted more than 221,000 smoking-cessation consultations and dispensed more than 15.1 million smoking-cessation products.
When tobacco was taken out of stores with pharmacies in Alberta, the sales of smoking-cessation products went down.
In an ideal world, society would not accept smoking as a tolerable activity. Until that time, we believe that retail pharmacy needs to be part of the solution to eliminate tobacco use.
