CVS will stop selling cigarettes

[Anonymous]

Absentee parenting is often a bitch.

[Anonymous]

CVS stock is up. They're getting all my drugstore business from now on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Every store should be pressured to stop selling cigarettes. It would be a big public health improvement. I'm not advocating a ban; just make tobacco completely unavailable or too costly for anyone to have.

OMG, aren't they like 10 bucks a pack now? I really don't know how anyone can afford that habit as is. I can't imagine that too many people are picking up that habit now..

No. $5.80 in VA. But $14.50 in NYC, and pricing does make a difference, esp. for the adoption of smoking by teens.

$5.80 a pack would be a prohibitive amount for most teens (at least the ones I'm around) - a pack a day would cost over 40 bucks a week, $160 a month. I would think that only hard core smokers are buying cigarettes now days.

19% of adults in Virginia.

Yes, I'm aware that people still smoke. But what percentage of them are NEW smokers, though. I'd love to see an age break down because I'm guessing that majority are over 35 years old.

13% of HS students in va. http://www.vfhy.org/statistics/tobacco/numbers

Who is giving HS kids cigarettes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every store should be pressured to stop selling cigarettes. It would be a big public health improvement. I'm not advocating a ban; just make tobacco completely unavailable or too costly for anyone to have.

OMG, aren't they like 10 bucks a pack now? I really don't know how anyone can afford that habit as is. I can't imagine that too many people are picking up that habit now..

No. $5.80 in VA. But $14.50 in NYC, and pricing does make a difference, esp. for the adoption of smoking by teens.

$5.80 a pack would be a prohibitive amount for most teens (at least the ones I'm around) - a pack a day would cost over 40 bucks a week, $160 a month. I would think that only hard core smokers are buying cigarettes now days.

19% of adults in Virginia.

Yes, I'm aware that people still smoke. But what percentage of them are NEW smokers, though. I'd love to see an age break down because I'm guessing that majority are over 35 years old.

13% of HS students in va. http://www.vfhy.org/statistics/tobacco/numbers

13%? Define "smoker" - does that mean "I am an habitual, pack a day smoker" or "I had a cigarette at a party one time" or "Every once in a while I'll bum a cigarette from a friend"

Where are they getting these numbers from? School surveys? Because I have a hard time believing that 13% of HS kids in FFX County are smokers. All those hours in school plus after school activities on school grounds - when would they have time?

Smoking is not even allowed on school grounds...and most addicted smokers would have a hard time going that long between smokes. That number sounds inflated to me..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every store should be pressured to stop selling cigarettes. It would be a big public health improvement. I'm not advocating a ban; just make tobacco completely unavailable or too costly for anyone to have.

OMG, aren't they like 10 bucks a pack now? I really don't know how anyone can afford that habit as is. I can't imagine that too many people are picking up that habit now..

No. $5.80 in VA. But $14.50 in NYC, and pricing does make a difference, esp. for the adoption of smoking by teens.

$5.80 a pack would be a prohibitive amount for most teens (at least the ones I'm around) - a pack a day would cost over 40 bucks a week, $160 a month. I would think that only hard core smokers are buying cigarettes now days.

19% of adults in Virginia.

Yes, I'm aware that people still smoke. But what percentage of them are NEW smokers, though. I'd love to see an age break down because I'm guessing that majority are over 35 years old.

13% of HS students in va. http://www.vfhy.org/statistics/tobacco/numbers

13%? Define "smoker" - does that mean "I am an habitual, pack a day smoker" or "I had a cigarette at a party one time" or "Every once in a while I'll bum a cigarette from a friend"

Where are they getting these numbers from? School surveys? Because I have a hard time believing that 13% of HS kids in FFX County are smokers. All those hours in school plus after school activities on school grounds - when would they have time?

Smoking is not even allowed on school grounds...and most addicted smokers would have a hard time going that long between smokes. That number sounds inflated to me..

Here are the sources. http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/facts_issues/toll_us/sources/

In general, the definition for any drug or alcohol survey is "have you used XYZ in the past month".

As for kids in FFX, (1) their rate is possibly lower than the state average. Smoking is probably more likely as you go west. Look at W.Va in comparison. That said, the "when would they have the time" argument is pretty weak. Teens have lots of unsupervised time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Their decision will increase alcohol consumption and obesity, because bars and grocery stores will be the last places left with cigarette machines.

Will it? If it does, at least this will lead to a decrease of lung-related illnesses and deaths from first and secondhand smoking. We can't keep cigarettes around forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every store should be pressured to stop selling cigarettes. It would be a big public health improvement. I'm not advocating a ban; just make tobacco completely unavailable or too costly for anyone to have.

OMG, aren't they like 10 bucks a pack now? I really don't know how anyone can afford that habit as is. I can't imagine that too many people are picking up that habit now..

No. $5.80 in VA. But $14.50 in NYC, and pricing does make a difference, esp. for the adoption of smoking by teens.

$5.80 a pack would be a prohibitive amount for most teens (at least the ones I'm around) - a pack a day would cost over 40 bucks a week, $160 a month. I would think that only hard core smokers are buying cigarettes now days.

19% of adults in Virginia.

Yes, I'm aware that people still smoke. But what percentage of them are NEW smokers, though. I'd love to see an age break down because I'm guessing that majority are over 35 years old.

13% of HS students in va. http://www.vfhy.org/statistics/tobacco/numbers

13%? Define "smoker" - does that mean "I am an habitual, pack a day smoker" or "I had a cigarette at a party one time" or "Every once in a while I'll bum a cigarette from a friend"

Where are they getting these numbers from? School surveys? Because I have a hard time believing that 13% of HS kids in FFX County are smokers. All those hours in school plus after school activities on school grounds - when would they have time?

Smoking is not even allowed on school grounds...and most addicted smokers would have a hard time going that long between smokes. That number sounds inflated to me..

Here are the sources. http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/facts_issues/toll_us/sources/

In general, the definition for any drug or alcohol survey is "have you used XYZ in the past month".

As for kids in FFX, (1) their rate is possibly lower than the state average. Smoking is probably more likely as you go west. Look at W.Va in comparison. That said, the "when would they have the time" argument is pretty weak. Teens have lots of unsupervised time.

It sounds as though they are using a pretty loose definition of what it means to be a smoker "I had a cigarette within the past month" as opposed to "I need to smoke X number of cigarettes every day." My kid had a sip of champagne on New Year's Eve - is he a "drinker"?

As far as teens being able to leave school grounds to go and smoke...I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that even the adult staff at the schools have to wait until they either go somewhere (off grounds) for lunch or leave the school for the day. That's a pretty long stretch between smokes.

Maybe the kids in Southwestern VA smoke more than the kids in Fairfax County...but, still, at 5 bucks a pack, it's not a very affordable habit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every store should be pressured to stop selling cigarettes. It would be a big public health improvement. I'm not advocating a ban; just make tobacco completely unavailable or too costly for anyone to have.

OMG, aren't they like 10 bucks a pack now? I really don't know how anyone can afford that habit as is. I can't imagine that too many people are picking up that habit now..

No. $5.80 in VA. But $14.50 in NYC, and pricing does make a difference, esp. for the adoption of smoking by teens.

$5.80 a pack would be a prohibitive amount for most teens (at least the ones I'm around) - a pack a day would cost over 40 bucks a week, $160 a month. I would think that only hard core smokers are buying cigarettes now days.

19% of adults in Virginia.

Yes, I'm aware that people still smoke. But what percentage of them are NEW smokers, though. I'd love to see an age break down because I'm guessing that majority are over 35 years old.

13% of HS students in va. http://www.vfhy.org/statistics/tobacco/numbers

13%? Define "smoker" - does that mean "I am an habitual, pack a day smoker" or "I had a cigarette at a party one time" or "Every once in a while I'll bum a cigarette from a friend"

Where are they getting these numbers from? School surveys? Because I have a hard time believing that 13% of HS kids in FFX County are smokers. All those hours in school plus after school activities on school grounds - when would they have time?

Smoking is not even allowed on school grounds...and most addicted smokers would have a hard time going that long between smokes. That number sounds inflated to me..

Here are the sources. http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/facts_issues/toll_us/sources/

In general, the definition for any drug or alcohol survey is "have you used XYZ in the past month".

As for kids in FFX, (1) their rate is possibly lower than the state average. Smoking is probably more likely as you go west. Look at W.Va in comparison. That said, the "when would they have the time" argument is pretty weak. Teens have lots of unsupervised time.

It sounds as though they are using a pretty loose definition of what it means to be a smoker "I had a cigarette within the past month" as opposed to "I need to smoke X number of cigarettes every day." My kid had a sip of champagne on New Year's Eve - is he a "drinker"?

As far as teens being able to leave school grounds to go and smoke...I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that even the adult staff at the schools have to wait until they either go somewhere (off grounds) for lunch or leave the school for the day. That's a pretty long stretch between smokes.

Maybe the kids in Southwestern VA smoke more than the kids in Fairfax County...but, still, at 5 bucks a pack, it's not a very affordable habit.

I don't have the frequency data, I am only guessing at the survey question based on other drug and alcohol surveys. That said, a lot of smokers consider themselves "nonsmokers" because they only light up when they drink. But that's 3x a week, and it leaves them vulnerable to expanding their habit when they in a pressure situation at work or home. The more we know about social smoking, the more we realize that it is a bad path.

[Anonymous]

If you want to look into the data on youth smoking, the national youth tobacco survey is the place for it. They ask detailed questions, including frequency of smoking over the last 30 days and lifetime use.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6245a2.htm

A key point to consider is that 90% of adult smokers started their habit by 18. So there is substantial lifetime risk even if the usage is not high during high school years.