A looming meeting with the Food and Drug Administration regarding retailer tobacco sales to young people is the latest pressure on Walgreens Boots Alliance to stop sales of cigarettes and other tobacco products altogether.
“Notably, Walgreens is currently the top violator among pharmacies that sell tobacco products, with 22 percent of the stores inspected having illegally sold tobacco products to minors,” the FDA said.
FDA head Scott Gottlieb wants to meet with Walgreens to address "their record of violative tobacco sales to youth.” In a statement Thursday, Gottlieb said said he will be "writing the corporate management of Walgreens and requesting a meeting with them to discuss whether there is a corporate-wide issue related to their stores’ non-compliance."
The FDA’s warning to Walgreens comes as the giant retailer pushes further into the business of healthcare, partnering with health insurers, doctors, urgent care centers and adding lab-testing inside its stores.
“We all share the important responsibility of keeping harmful and addictive tobacco products out of the hands of kids,” Gottlieb said. “Retailers in particular – especially those who position themselves as health-and-wellness-minded businesses – are on the front lines of these efforts and must take that legal obligation seriously."
More broadly, the FDA issue related for now to sales of minors is escalating criticism from shareholders, public health advocates and consumer groups as to whether Walgreens should be selling tobacco at all. At last month’s shareholders meeting, Walgreens reiterated its stance that its tobacco sales are a business decision designed to address “customer choice” and stressed it also offers smoking cessation products and programs.
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.
Walgreens is evaluating the future of tobacco sales through a pilot in its Gainesville, Florida market where the drugstore chain last year stopped selling cigarettes. The Gainesville market is a laboratory of sorts for Walgreens where the chain is testing myriad concepts for the future of its stores across the U.S.
Walgreens co-chief operating officer Alex Gourlay told shareholders last month that the company is looking at what happens to customers in Gainesville who are used to buying cigarettes and no longer do now that the stores don’t sell them. The study, which began in April, is running 12 to 18 months in Gainesville where Walgreens has 17 stores.
Tom McCaney of Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, which is a part of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. "Walgreens has run out of legitimate justifications for selling tobacco and other nicotine-based products."