I think most of us find it ironic that drugstores sell cigarettes and even more ironic that you usually go to the back of the store for medication, and the cigarettes are available as you walk in the door!
Walgreens - one of the giants in the drugstore industry, is suing in order to be allowed to sell cigarettes. They are suiing the City of San Francisco. The City is working on making it illegal for pharmacies to sell cigarettes. The law goes into being on October 1.
Walgreen's is arguing that the law does not affect certain (other) grocery stores that also sell drugs and is claiming this new law to be unconstitutional.
The City of Boston is also considering a similar law.
I'd like to know how others feel about this new law and Walgreen's lawsuit. Is this law indeed unconstitutional? Don't companies have the right to sell something that is not illegal? If we don't want the product, we can just say no, right? Is the government intruding on our individual rights to purchase and use a product that is within legal boundaries? It may be stupid to smoke but we currently have the right to be stupid!
Or in a country where hundreds of thousands of us die every year from smoking related disease (not to mention those affected by second hand smoke), isn't it appropriate that pharmacies - the places who sell the products to make us well - lead by example and not also sell us the products that kill us?