Health oriented organizations and President Barack Obama praised the move.

“As one of the largest retailers and pharmacies in America, CVS Caremark sets a powerful example, and today’s decision will help advance my administration’s efforts to reduce tobacco related deaths, cancer, and heart disease, as well as bring down health care costs ultimately saving lives and protecting untold numbers of families from pain and heartbreak for years to come,” Obama said in a statement Wednesday.

“This is an important, bold public health decision by a major retail pharmacy to act on the long understood reality that blending providing health care and providing cigarettes just doesn’t match,” said Dr. Richard Wender, chief cancer control officer at the American Cancer Society.

“We need an all hands on deck effort to take tobacco products out of the hands of America’s young generation, and to help those who are addicted to quit,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. “Today’s CVS Caremark announcement helps bring our country closer to achieving a tobacco free generation. I hope others will follow their lead.”

It remained unclear whether other pharmacies will follow CVS’ lead.

“We have been evaluating this product category for some time to balance the choices our customers expect from us with their ongoing health needs,” Walgreens spokesman Jim Graham said in a statement.

“We will continue to evaluate the choice of products our customers want, while also helping to educate them and providing smoking cessation products and alternatives that help to reduce the demand for tobacco products.”

Meanwhile, David Howard, spokesman for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., said, “We value the long term relationship with CVS and respect their commercial decision. We will work with them as they transition out of the tobacco category in the coming months.”

Stopping cigarette sales comes at a price. CVS Caremark estimates it will take an annual loss of $2 billion from tobacco shoppers $1.5 billion in tobacco sales and the rest from other products tobacco shoppers purchase while in the store.

The company has enjoyed growing revenues in recent years, boosted by its pharmacy services business and prescription drug sales.

CVS Caremark hasn’t reported its year end results yet, but it took in nearly $94 billion in revenues in the first nine months of 2013, up slightly from the same period in 2012, according to its most recent earnings report.

In 2012, CVS Caremark reported $123.1 billion in revenues, a 15% jump from $107.1 billion the previous year.

“We commend CVS for putting public health ahead of their bottom line and recognizing the need for pharmacies to focus on supporting health and wellness instead of contributing to disease and death caused by tobacco use,” the American Medical Association said.

Asked Wednesday about the reaction of tobacco executives to the decision, CVS Caremark’s Merlo said they were “disappointed. At the same time, I think they understand the paradox that we face as an organization, and they understand the rationale for the decision.”

On whether CVS would extend its ban to other products known to be unhealthy candy, potato chips or alcohol, for instance Merlo told reporters those items, in moderation, do not have the same adverse effects as the use of tobacco.

We know it can kill us Why people still smoke

Helping people quit

The company also announced Wednesday it plans to launch a national smoking cessation program in the spring. The program will include information and treatment on smoking cessation at CVS/pharmacy and Minute Clinic locations in addition to online resources.

Members of the pharmacy benefit management plan will be able to access comprehensive programs to help themselves stop smoking.

Smoking cessation products such as nicotine patches or gum will continue to be available at CVS/pharmacy locations, Dr. Troyen Brennan, chief medical officer for CVS Caremark, said Wednesday.

The last cigarette Nine ex smokers who quit the habit for good

Fewer people smoke today than in the mid 20th century, but there are still a lot of Americans lighting up. In 1965, 42% of the population smoked, compared with 19% today, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts said the decline in smoking has plateaued.

It’s no secret that tobacco causes health problems. Cancer, stroke, heart disease and lung diseases are among the results of smoking, according to the CDC. More than 5 million deaths per year are caused by tobacco use. Smokers also tend to die 10 years before nonsmokers, according to the CDC.

Support from public health advocates

The company’s announcement is “a huge step toward our country being able to have a really long lasting culture of health,” said Dr. Risa Lavizzo Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the largest U.S. philanthropy devoted to public health.

In addition to eliminating a point of sale of tobacco, CVS Caremark’s removal of tobacco products also takes away an advertising opportunity, said Robin Koval, president and CEO of Legacy, an organization that conducts research on tobacco use. Young people who shop at CVS/pharmacy for other reasons will no longer see the array of tobacco products available.

“It’s obviously a landmark decision and one that I hope wakes up the entire retail industry that it’s the right thing to do,” Koval said.

FDA launches teen anti smoking campaign

A report from the California Department of Public Health found that while total cigarette sales decreased between 2005 and 2009 in the United States, sales in pharmacies increased. If sales of cigarettes at pharmacies continue rising at the current rate, by 2020 almost 15% of all U.S. cigarette sales will occur at pharmacies, the report said.

According to a 2011 study in Los Angeles, cited in the report, more than 32% of pharmacies sold cigarettes, and traditional chain pharmacies were far more likely to sell cigarettes than independently owned pharmacies.

Wender noted the CVS move is in line with what the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Medical Association, American Lung Association and American Pharmacists Association have advocated to stop sales of tobacco in retail outlets with pharmacies.

On the other side of the issue, there is a lot of money in tobacco. The cigarette industry spent $8.37 billion in 2011 on advertising and promotions, according to the CDC.

Most tobacco is sold in convenience stores, which would be “a tougher nut to crack” in terms of stopping tobacco sales, Wender said.

But pharmacies are a good place to start, Wender said. He is convinced the removal of tobacco products from CVS/pharmacy locations will result in some smokers quitting, particularly those who have a habit of buying their cigarettes there.

“It’s going to force every one of them to pause and say, ‘Why isn’t my CVS selling cigarettes anymore?’ ” Wender said.

How you can prevent most kinds of cancer

CNNMoney’s Melanie Hicken and Aaron Smith and CNN’s Jen Christensen and Miriam Falco contributed to this report.

Smoking – wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Discount cigarettes – carrollton, tx

  1. West, Robert and Shiffman, Saul (2007). Fast Facts Smoking Cessation. Health Press Ltd. p. 28. ISBN 978 1 903734 98 8.
  2. See Gately Wilbert
  3. Robicsek (1978), p. 30
  4. P. Ram Manohar, “Smoking and Ayurvedic Medicine in India” in Smoke, pp. 68 75
  5. Sander L. Gilman and Zhou Xun, “Introduction” in Smoke, p. 20 21
  6. Phillips, pp. 303 319
  7. Coe, pp. 74 81
  8. Jamestown, Virginia An Overview
  9. Kulikoff, pp. 38 39.
  10. Cooper, William J, Liberty and Slavery Southern Politics to 1860, Univ of South Carolina Press, 2001, p. 9.
  11. The People’s Chronology, 1994 by James Trager
  12. a b Lloyd & Mitchinson
  13. Tanya Pollard, “The Pleasures and Perils of Smoking in Early Modern England” in Smoke, p. 38
  14. a b Timon Screech, “Tobacco in Edo Period Japan” in Smoke, pp. 92 99
  15. Sander Gilman and Zhou Xun, “Introduction” in Smoke, p. 15 16
  16. Allen F. Roberts, “Smoking in Sub Saharan Africa” in Smoke, pp. 53 54
  17. Burns, pp. 134 135.
  18. a b Jos Ten Berge, “The Belle Epoque of Opium in Smoke, p. 114
  19. Proctor 2000, p. 178
  20. Proctor 2000, p. 219
  21. Proctor 2000, p. 187
  22. a b Proctor 2000, p. 245
  23. Proctor, Robert N. (1996). Nazi Medicine and Public Health Policy. Dimensions, Anti Defamation League. Retrieved 2008 06 01.
  24. a b Proctor 2000, p. 228
  25. Colin White (September 1989). “Research on Smoking and Lung Cancer A Landmark in the History of Chronic Disease Epidemiology”. The Yale Journal Of Biology And Medicine.
  26. Doll, Rich and Hilly, A. Bradford (September 30, 1950). “Smoking and carcinoma of the lung. Preliminary report”. British Medical Journal 2 (4682) 739 48. doi 10.1136/bmj.2.4682.739. PMC 2038856. PMID 14772469. Cite uses deprecated parameters (help)
  27. Doll Richard, Bradford Hilly A (June 26, 1954). “The mortality of doctors in relation to their smoking habits. A preliminary report”. British Medical Journal 1 (4877) 1451 55. doi 10.1136/bmj.1.4877.1451. PMC 2085438. PMID 13160495.
  28. Berridge, V. Marketing Health Smoking and the Discourse of Public Health in Britain, 1945 2000, Oxford Oxford University Press, 2007.
  29. Milo Geyelin (November 23, 1998). “Forty Six States Agree to Accept $206 Billion Tobacco Settlement”. Wall Street Journal.
  30. VJ Rock, MPH, A Malarcher, PhD, JW Kahende, PhD, K Asman, MSPH, C Husten, MD, R Caraballo, PhD (2007 11 09). “Cigarette Smoking Among Adults United States, 2006″. United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved 2009 01 01. ” … In 2006, an estimated 20.8% (45.3 million) of U.S. adults … ”
  31. Hilton, Matthew (2000 05 04). Smoking in British Popular Culture, 1800 2000 Perfect Pleasures. Manchester University Press. pp. 229 241. ISBN 978 0 7190 5257 6. Retrieved 2009 03 22.
  32. “WHO/WPRO Smoking Statistics”. World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific. 2002 05 28. Retrieved 2009 01 01.
  33. Gilman & Xun 2004, pp. 46 57
  34. WHO REPORT on the global TOBACCO epidemic 2008, pp. 267 288
  35. DoJ DEA History 1985 1990
  36. Cracked up.
  37. Leslie Iverson, “Why do We Smoke? The Physiology of Smoking” in Smoke, p. 320
  38. MMWR April 12, 2002 / 51(14) 300 3
  39. BMJ, Am J Public Health 1995 1223 1230 doi 10.1136/ (published 22 June 2004)
  40. Am J Public Health 1995 1223 1230
  41. Thun MJ, Hannan LM, Adams Campbell LL, Boffetta P, Buring JE et al. (2008). “Lung cancer occurrence in never smokers An analysis of 13 cohorts and 22 cancer registry studies”. PLoS Med 5 (9) e185. doi 10.1371/ PMC 2531137. PMID 18788891.
  42. BMJ 1997 315 973 80
  43. American Legacy Foundation factsheet on lung cancer their cited source is CDC (Centers for Disease Control) The Health Consequences of Smoking A Report of the Surgeon General. 2004.
  44. Nyboe J, Jensen G, Appleyard M, Schnohr P. (1989). “Risk factors for acute myocardial infarction in Copenhagen. I Hereditary, educational and socioeconomic factors. Copenhagen City Heart Study.”. Eur Heart J 10 (10) 910 6. PMID 2598948.
  45. Devereux G. ABC of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Definition, epidemiology, and risk factors. BMJ 2006 332 1142 1144. doi 10.1136/bmj.332.7550.1142 PMID 16690673
  46. Braun JM, Kahn RS, Froehlich T, Auinger P, Lanphear BP (2006). “Exposures to environmental toxicants and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in U.S. children”. Environ. Health Perspect. 114 (12) 1904 9. doi 10.1289/ehp.10274. PMC 1764142. PMID 17185283.
  47. /
  48. “Cigarette Smoking Among Adults United States, 2006”. Retrieved 2008 09 18.
  49. Cataldo, J. Prochaska, J. Glantz, S. (2010). “Cigarette Smoking is a Risk Factor for Alzheimer’s Disease an Analysis Controlling for Tobacco Industry Affiliation”. Journal of Alzheimer’s disease JAD 19 (2) 465 480. doi 10.3233/JAD 2010 1240 (inactive 2014 04 08). PMC 2906761. PMID 20110594. edit
  50. Cosnes J, et al. (1999). “Effects of current and former cigarette smoking on the clinical course of Crohn’s disease”. Aliment Pharmacol. Ther. 13 (11) 1403 11. doi 10.1046/j.1365 2036.1999.00630.x. PMID 10571595.
  51. Calkins BM (1989). “A meta analysis of the role of smoking in inflammatory bowel disease”. Dig. Dis. Sci. 34 (12) 1841 54. doi 10.1007/BF01536701. PMID 2598752.
  52. Lakatos PL, Szamosi T, Lakatos L (2007). “Smoking in inflammatory bowel diseases good, bad or ugly?”. World J Gastroenterol. 13 (46) 6134 9. doi 10.3748/wjg.13.6134. PMID 18069751.
  53. Leslie Iverson, “Why do We Smoke? The Physiology of Smoking” in Smoke, p. 318
  54. Leslie Iverson, “Why do We Smoke? The Physiology of Smoking” in Smoke, pp. 320 321
  55. Gay, Peter (1988). Freud A Life for Our Time. New York W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 650 651. ISBN 0 393 32861 9.
  56. Harris, J.R. (1998). The Nurture Assumption Why children turn out the way they do. New York Free Press.
  57. Does cigarette smoking
    cause stress?. Parrott, Andy C. American Psychologist, Vol 54(10), Oct 1999, 817 820. Parrott AC (1999). “Does cigarette smoking cause stress?”. American Psychologist 54 (10) 817 820. doi 10.1037/0003 066X.54.10.817. PMID 10540594. edit
  58. Eysenck, H. J. (1965). Smoking, health and personality. New York Basic Books.
  59. “Primary Care Interventions to Prevent Tobacco Use in Children and Adolescents U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement”. Ann. Intern. Med. August 2013. doi 10.7326/0003 4819 159 8 201310150 00699. PMID 23974179.
  60. WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008
  61. Sander L. Gilman and Xun Zhou, “Introduction” in Smoke A Global History of Smoking p. 26
  62. Matthew Hilton, “Smoking and Sociability” in Smoke, p. 133
  63. Sollmann, Torald. (1906) A Text book of Pharmacology and Some Allied Sciences. W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia and London. pp. 265.
  64. Matthew Hilton, “Smoking and Sociability” in Smoke, pp. 126 133
  65. CNN Health (Dec 1999). “Testosterone The good and the bad”. CNN.
  66. Robicsek (1978)
  67. Ashes to Ashes pp. 78 81
  68. Ivan Kalmar, “The Houkah in the Harem On Smoking and Orientalist Art” in Smoke, pp. 218 229
  69. Greaves, p. 266
  70. Benno Tempel, “Symbol and File Smoking in Art since the Seventeenth Century” in Smoke, pp. 206 217
  71. Noah Iserberg, “Cinematic Smoke From Weimar to Hollywood” in Smoke, pp. 248 255
  72. Eugene Umberger, “In Praise of Lady Nicotine A Bygone Era of Prose, Poetry… and Presentation” in Smoke, p. 241
  73. Eugene Umberger, “In Praise of Lady Nicotine A Bygone Era of Prose, Poetry… and Presentation” in Smoke, pp. 236 247
  74. Ashes to Ashes, The Independent, November 27, 2004. Accessed 2008.
  75. Stephen Cottrell, “Smoking and All That Jazz” in Smoke, pp. 154 59
  76. J. Edward Chamberlin & Barry Chevannes, “Ganja in Jamaica” in Smoke, pp. 148
  77. J. Edward Chamberlin & Barry Chevannes, “Ganja in Jamaica” in Smoke, pp. 144 53
  78. Smith, Hilary. “The high costs of smoking”. MSN money. Retrieved 10 September 2008 from
  79. U.S. Department of Treasury. “The Economic Costs of Smoking in the United States and the Benefits of Comprehensive Tobacco Legislation”. Retrieved 10 September 2008 from
  80. “Cigarette Camps Camp Lucky Strike”. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
  81. “Introduction The Cigarette Camps”. The Cigarette Camps The U.S. Army Camps in the Le Havre Area. Retrieved 26 September 2012.