HealthWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― City of San Francisco residents picking up prescriptions can forget about buying a pack of cigarettes at the drugstore checkout.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 Tuesday afternoon to approve a first-in-the-nation ban of the sale of tobacco in pharmacies beginning Oct. 1.

The measure amends San Francisco's health code to prohibit tobacco sales in nearly all 70 city pharmacies, whether a small mom-and-pop independently owned store or a large retailer like Walgreens and Rite-Aid.

At the end of September, tobacco sales permits for pharmacies will expire and the city will not issue any more. Drugstores caught selling tobacco products in the city this fall will be fined up to $1,000.

But grocery stores and "big box" stores, such as Safeway and Costco, were exempted from the ban.

Dr. Mitch Katz, director of the San Francisco Department of Health, defended the measure by contending that pharmacies specifically "market themselves as health-promoting businesses," unlike larger supermarkets, which he said sell a variety of products, including medicines and cigarettes.

However, Supervisor Bevan Dufty, one of the dissenters, said he thought the legislation was poorly crafted and would have been more consistent if it included the larger markets.

Another of the no-votes, Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, argued that the law would likely not be effective in curbing smoking, as smokers could just go down the street to the neighborhood liquor store to buy their cigarettes, he said. 

Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval, a self-described former smoker, acknowledged Tuesday that there may have been "an element of unfairness" in singling out pharmacies, but added, "We have to do anything we can to stop people from smoking tobacco."

"I think that the proposal would have been better crafted if it was wider in scope," Sandoval said.

The citywide ban was modeled on rules enacted in eight Canadian provinces.

Similar proposals have failed this year in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Illinois and New York. San Francisco is the first city in the country to ban the sale of tobacco products in pharmacies, Ballard said.

"This is a good place to start," he added.

Opponents of the ban said it puts pharmacies at a competitive disadvantage against other retailers and also argued that it would do little to curb the smoking habits of San Franciscans.

In a letter to the mayor's office, Dennis Loper of the California Distributors Association wrote that the ban "limits the rights of legitimate retailers from selling a legal product."

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores, which also sent a
letter to the city opposing the ban, did not immediately return
messages seeking comment late Tuesday.

The city's ban was supported by numerous anti-smoking and health advocacy groups, including the California Medical Association and the American Cancer Society.

Tobacco use is responsible for more than 400,000 deaths a year in the U.S. and is the leading cause of preventable death nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In addition, according to statistics compiled by the city, 23 percent of San Franciscans have high blood pressure, 20 percent have high cholesterol, and 13 percent suffer from asthma, the treatment of which all call for ending smoking.

"Call it social engineering, call it what you will, but the statistics speak for themselves," Sandoval said.

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