cvs health stops selling tobacco Vows to Quit Products CVS halts tobacco sales, changes

"We are at a critical moment in our nation's efforts to end the epidemic of tobacco use that continues to kill more people than any other preventable cause of death, and threatens the health and well-being of our next generation," CVS Health chief medical officer Troyen Brennan said in a statement

The announcement comes as CVS gears up for its PBM selling season, the time of year when it tries to land new Caremark contracts with big employers and health plans

health care system that interacts ever more closely with patients, giving flu shots, reminding them when they are not filling prescriptions, and, through its 800 Minute Clinic in-store nurse practitioner stations, prescribing medicines

As we continue to learn more about the health ravages of using combustible tobacco, as rates of smoking decline, and as smoking becomes more and more a marginalized behavior, it will become increasingly difficult for those who purport to be in the health business to simultaneously sell one of the most deadly products

CVS Caremark stunned the business community on February 5, 2014 when it announced that as of October 1, 2014 it would no longer sell tobacco products in its 7600 pharmacies

The cigarette industry spent $8.37 billion in 2011 on advertising and promotions, according to the CDC