The US Food and Drug Administration had recently cracked down on Walgreens and other retailers for selling tobacco products to minors
Walgreens President of Operations, Richard Ashworth, says, Weve 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. Ashworth adds, Through ongoing training and certification for pharmacists and technicians, we also continue to help and support people looking to quit the use of tobacco in their lives. The new Tobacco 21 policy reinforces other recent steps the company has taken, including the implementation of a Card All policy chain-wide last October, which requires verification regardless of age on all tobacco sales in Walgreens stores
And we really urge you to listen to that calling. But Walgreens says it has seen a seen in the last year a "low double digit percentage decrease in tobacco sales as we have taken a number of steps including lowering the visibility of these products in our stores." Meanwhile, Walgreens said Thursday it has had an increase in sales of its smoking cessation products
And if the customers choose to smoke and want to buy tobacco products in our environment, we provide that," said James Skinner, executive chairman of Walgreens Boots Alliance during a shareholder call earlier this year
