Tobacco: Canada tobacco sold in pharmacies

Anti-smoking advocates call for non-profit tobacco seller

23 Jun 2006
CBC News

Turning the tobacco industry into a non-profit or Crown agency could end tobacco marketing, some public health officials say.

The number of people smoking in Canada is down to about 22 per cent from 35 per cent a decade ago, but millions of Canadians remain hooked on cigarettes.

Public health officials are looking for ways to stop marketing that draws new smokers and undermines anti-smoking messages.

It’s reasonable for corporations to use marketing and other tools to maximize profits, but not for companies that sell a harmful and addictive product, said Cynthia Callard, executive director of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada. The group aims to reduce tobacco-caused illness by cutting smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke.

Callard suggests it’s time government buy out the tobacco industry and change its mandate from profit to public health.

“We anticipate by taking over the companies, voluntarily or involuntarily, and running them in the public interest, we would actually save governments and save the economy more money than it would cost to do this,” Callard said.

A non-profit agency, charged with ultimately putting itself out of business, would not try to increase the market for cigarettes the way the tobacco industry does.

Benjamin Kemball, president and CEO of Industrial Tobacco, isn’t taking the idea seriously.

“I’m not sure that there’s much support for governments taking over businesses, particularly businesses which are already heavily regulated by the government, and particularly business which are willing and eager to work with government on a lot of the issues that we face,” Kembell said.

Tobacco companies now acknowledge the dangers of their product and share the concerns of anti-tobacco advocates on reducing the harm caused by smoking, he said.

There are precedents for the idea, such as in France and China, where governments own the tobacco industries.

If the change resulted in more people quitting, the initial cost to governments would pale compared to the billions now spent in health-care costs for smokers, agreed Dr. Robert Strang, the medical officer of health in Halifax.

“There’d have to be clearly a lot of political will to do that,” said Strang. “But I think in the best interests of the health of the nation, I would certainly support. I think it would be reasonable that the government would take over an industry. “

Tobacco companies face a shrinking market and costly lawsuits, conditions that might make the idea more imaginable, Callard said.
Read

NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CCNMatthews

FOR: Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada

November 2, 2005

Putting Profits ahead of Patient Care

Physicians file complaint with Alberta College of Pharmacists over tobacco
sales in pharmacies.

Attention: Health/Medical Editor, News Editor

EDMONTON, ALBERTA–(CCNMatthews – Nov. 2, 2005) – Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada (PSC) has filed an official complaint with the Alberta College of Pharmacists against the sale of tobacco products in this province’s pharmacies.

The Alberta College of Pharmacists has resisted previous appeals by their own members and by other health agencies to either implement a ban on tobacco sales in pharmacies, or request the province to do so through legislation. “By filing an official complaint, we hope to trigger the College into meeting its responsibilities under the Pharmaceutical Professional Act to set ethical standards for pharmacists and protect the public interest,” said Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada’s regional director, Charl Els. “Tobacco is the leading avoidable cause of disease and premature death in Alberta, and should not be sold in agencies which have a responsibility to health, like pharmacies.”

As a psychiatrist, Dr. Els finds the sale of tobacco products hinders his
patients’ ability to quit. “Persons with mental illness are at increased risk
of smoking, and may be impacted more severely by these tobacco sales
practices”, Dr. Charl Els, PSC’s Alberta Director said. “Patients have
complained that they find it difficult to resist buying cigarettes in
pharmacies. When they enter pharmacies to buy smoking cessation products, they are faced with a ‘powerwall’ of tobacco products”.

At least six other provinces have already passed legislation banning the sales of tobacco from pharmacies, and in at least one province, Quebec, the College used its powers to regulate the profession to trigger legal change. Despite Albertan pharmacists’ overwhelming support for outlawing tobacco sales in pharmacies, a call by the Alberta College of Pharmacists for legislation has not been forthcoming.

“We fear that the College of Pharmacists is listening to the concerns of the
‘big business’ chain pharmacies and not to the concerns of their own members, or the needs of the public,” said Dr. Els.

As numerous pharmacies are now owned by non-pharmacists, the decision to sell tobacco in a pharmacy may no longer lie in the hands of the pharmacist. “This places pharmacists in the precarious position of potentially violating their Professional Code of Conduct by offering tobacco products for sale”, Els added.

“The practice of sales from pharmacies, albeit legal, is tarnishing the
reputation of the profession and sends a mixed and harmful message to the public”, he added.

“Pharmacies should not put financial gain ahead of public health”, Els
concluded. PSC is recommending to the Alberta College of Pharmacists that it call on the Alberta Government to immediately bring forth legislation to ban the sales of tobacco from all pharmacies in Alberta.

/For further information:
Alberta:
Dr. Charl Els, MBChB, FCPsych[SA], MMedPsych – Alberta Director
(780)407-1150 or (780)908-2475

Ottawa:
Cynthia Callard, Executive Director
(613) 233-4878
/

IN: HEALTH

– 30 –

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Cynthia Callard, Executive Director, Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada
Primary Phone: 613-233-4878
Secondary Phone: 613-850-5594
E-mail: ccallard@smoke-free.ca