Walgreens to Raise Tobacco Buying Age to 21 and Older
23 Avril 2019 - 9:19PM
Dow Jones News
By Aisha Al-Muslim
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. will raise the minimum age
required for customers to buy tobacco products in its stores to 21,
up from 18 in most states, as the drugstore chain faces pressure
over its cigarette sales from federal regulators, activists and
some investors.
The new chainwide policy will start Sept. 1, the company said
Tuesday. Walgreens' move is its most recent step in its effort to
further prevent youth access to tobacco products, including a
policy implemented last October that requires verification
regardless of age, the company said.
"We've seen positive results from other recent efforts to
strengthen our policies related to tobacco sales, and believe this
next step can be even more impactful to reduce its use among teens
and young adults," Richard Ashworth, Walgreens president of
operations, said in a statement.
Walgreens' new policy comes as the company has been publicly
supportive of efforts in a number of states to raise the legal age
to use tobacco to 21. Currently, about a dozen states have raised
the tobacco buying age to 21, along with at least 450 localities,
according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an antitobacco
nonprofit.
While Walgreens continues to sell cigarettes in the vast
majority of its 9,600 U.S. stores, the chain has been testing some
tobacco-free stores and is encouraging employees in others to offer
aids to quit smoking to customers buying cigarettes. The pharmacy
chain has also reduced the visibility of tobacco products in some
stores.
Unlike CVS Health Corp., which stopped selling tobacco products
in 2014, Walgreens has continued to sell cigarettes, electronic
cigarettes and other tobacco products in most of its stores,
drawing criticism from federal regulators, lawmakers as well as
activists who say that tobacco products don't belong in a health
store.
In February, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration called out
the company out for being a top violator among pharmacies illegally
selling tobacco products to minors. In response, Walgreens said
that it has a zero-tolerance policy on selling tobacco to minors
and any employee violating its policy is subject to
termination.
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he
planned to introduce legislation raising the national minimum age
to purchase tobacco products to 21 from 18. Sen. McConnell's
announcement followed the introduction earlier this month of
similar bills in the House.
Altria Group Inc. and British American Tobacco PLC, the two
biggest U.S. cigarette manufacturers, as well as e-cigarettes maker
Juul Labs Inc., all support raising the age to 21. The hope is that
the move would curb underage smoking and the use of e-cigarettes
among youths.
Walgreens doesn't sell tobacco products at a test store in
Deerfield, Ill., near its headquarters, as well as 17 stores in
Gainesville, Fla., as part of a 12- to 18-month pilot program it
started last year. It also doesn't sell cigarettes in
Massachusetts, New York City and San Francisco, which have banned
pharmacies from selling them. Outside North America, the company's
Boots pharmacies don't sell tobacco products.
Write to Aisha Al-Muslim at aisha.al-muslim@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 23, 2019 15:03 ET (19:03 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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