Availability and range of tobacco products for sale in Massachusetts pharmacies

作者：Andrew B Seidenberg, Weiwei Hong, JiaYue Liu, Jonathan K. Noel, Vaughan W. Rees · 发表于：Tobacco Control · 年份：2012 · DOI：10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2012-050591 · 被引用次数：17 · 研究领域：Smoking Behavior and Cessation、Medication Adherence and Compliance、Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare

OBJECTIVE: New tobacco control policies have been introduced in Massachusetts which restrict tobacco product sales in pharmacies. The purpose of this investigation was to outline the scope of pharmacy involvement in the tobacco market by assessing the availability and range of tobacco products sold in Massachusetts pharmacies. METHODS: Public listings of licenced pharmacies and tobacco retailers in Massachusetts were examined to determine the proportion of pharmacies licenced to sell tobacco, and the proportion of tobacco retailers possessing a pharmacy licence. Telephone interviews were conducted with a random sample (n=70) of pharmacies possessing a tobacco licence to assess the availability and range of tobacco products for sale. The availability of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products was assessed as a comparison. RESULTS: The majority of pharmacies in Massachusetts possessed a tobacco licence (69%), and pharmacies made up 9% of licenced tobacco retailers. Among pharmacies surveyed that reported selling tobacco (90%), cigarettes were the most available tobacco product for sale (100%), followed by cigars (69%), little cigars/cigarillos (66%), moist snuff (53%), pipe tobacco (49%), roll-your-own tobacco (34%), snus (14%), dissolvable tobacco (11%) and electronic cigarettes (2%). Nearly all pharmacies selling tobacco offered the nicotine patch (100%), gum (100%) and lozenge (98%). CONCLUSIONS: Tobacco-free pharmacy policies would affect a majority of Massachusetts pha...