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December 2, 2008 7:46:33 PM CST

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Boston Bans Drugstore Cigarette Sales

Posted Sep 5, 08 6:26 AM CDT in US,  Science & Health 

(Newser) – Boston's health honchos have approved some of the country's toughest anti-tobacco rules by banning sales at some stores, the Boston Globe reports. The new rules forbid pharmacies and campus convenience stores from selling cigarettes. They also ban smoking on bar and restaurant patios. The city's cigar parlors, previously exempt, will also have to stub out after a 5-year grace period expires.

Officials say the rules will boost the health of Bostonians and that selling tobacco is incompatible with the mission of a drugstore. Drugstore chains and tobacco companies are strongly opposed to the ban, and even some tobacco-control experts believe the law may be over-reaching, saying that banning sales at certain outlets will be unlikely to dissuade determined smokers.

Source Boston Globe

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Cigarette packages on a store counter.   (AP Photo/George Widman, file)
Pharmacies and convenience stores on college campuses will no longer be allowed to sell cigarettes under Boston's new regulations.   (Getty Images)
Boston pharmacies will be banned from selling cigarettes under tough new regulations.   (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki, file)
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Why, in a place where people go to get healthy and get information about staying healthy, would you want to sell something that has absolutely no redeeming value and ends up killing a lot of people? - Health commission director Barbara Ferrer

Just to extend this, should the public health mission also ban the sale of candy bars in pharmacies? If we're going to get rid of cigarettes, why don't we also get rid of soda? We know soda causes obesity. - Boston University tobacco control specialist Dr. Michael Siegel

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smoking • Boston • tobacco • cigarette • convenience stores • pharmacy • cigarette sales


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