The letters were sent to Rite Aid, Walgreen, Kroger, Safeway and Walmart, five companies that are among the biggest pharmacy retailers in the country.
“There is a contradiction in having these dangerous and devastating tobacco products on the shelves of a retail chain that services health care needs,” the letters said. Stopping the sale of tobacco products, they continued, “would effectively bring us full circle, back from the time when a tobacco manufacturer could advertise that “more doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette” to a time when cigarettes simply cannot be purchased from a business that sells products prescribed by doctors.
In February, Larry J. Merlo, chief executive of CVS Caremark, said that the sale of tobacco products was “inconsistent with our purpose.” The company, which is the largest drugstore chain in the country in overall sales, has been moving increasingly toward becoming a health care provider, offering more mini-clinics, for example, rather than just an array of pills and toiletries.
The group of attorneys general, led by Eric T. Schneiderman of New York and Mike DeWine of Ohio, represents 28 states and territories, including New Hampshire, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Utah, Puerto Rico and Guam.
“Pharmacies and drugstores, which increasingly market themselves as a source for community health care, send a mixed message by continuing to sell deadly tobacco products,” Mr. Schneiderman said in an email. “The fact that these stores profit from the sale of cigarettes and tobacco must take a back seat to the health of New Yorkers and customers across the country.”
The letters do not mention any potential legal action if stores decline to institute a ban; they simply urge the retailers to follow CVS’s lead. But a person with knowledge of the group’s thinking said that if the retailers did not act voluntarily, a push for reform or litigation could be a step down the road.
The letters also did not address the sale of electronic cigarettes, nicotine products that are expanding rapidly in sales and reach. Some argue that e-cigarettes might be a gateway for nonsmokers to pick up a cigarette habit, while others say it is the most effective way to quit. The Food and Drug Administration is deciding whether and how to regulate the product. Even before its announcement last month, CVS did not sell e-cigarettes.
