NATO, the New York Association of Convenience Stores (NYACS), the
Bodega Association of the United States, along with Lorillard Tobacco
Company, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Inc., American Snuff Company, Philip
Morris USA Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Brands Inc., and John Middleton
Company have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Federal District Court for the
Southern District of New York seeking preliminary and permanent
injunctions against the enforcement of several provisions of a
tobacco-related ordinance adopted on October 30, 2013 by the New York
City Council and which goes into effect on March 19, 2014.Glamour Super Slims Lilac
The
ordinance provisions that are the subject of the litigation are those
sections that restrict cigarette and tobacco product coupons and other
promotional price discounts (such as buy one, get one free) on tobacco
products. As set out in the lawsuit, the ban on cigarette and tobacco
product coupons and promotional price discounts raise serious federal
and state constitutional questions while also being pre-empted by
federal and state laws.
Specifically, the lawsuit seeks a judgment
declaring, among other things, that (1) the ban on coupons,
multi-package discounts and promotionally priced tobacco products are an
unconstitutional restriction of free speech, violating the United
States Constitution and the New York State Constitution, and (2) the
ordinance provisions are pre-empted by both federal law and New York
State law.
The lawsuit claims that these sections of the ordinance
are unconstitutional because they restrict a retailer from redeeming
cigarette and tobacco product coupons and from communicating to adult
consumers that a particular tobacco product price is a promotional
discount. The lawsuit also claims that these sections are pre-empted not
only by the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act, which
prohibits states and localities from enacting restrictions on the
advertising and promoting of cigarettes, but also by New York State law,
which already regulates tobacco product coupons.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
CVS' no-cigarette policy long overdue, Northampton market owner says
It wasn’t a marketing study or Health Department sting that made
Richard E. Cooper stop selling Marlboros, Winstons, Camels, Viceroys and
dozens of other cigarette brands at his two stores.
It was a question posed by Rebecca Cooper, his then-5-year-old daughter.
“Why do you even sell cigarettes? They’re bad for people,” the youngest Cooper asked in May 2000 after one of Cooper’s clerks had been cited for selling cigarettes to a minor.
As CVS prepares to end cigarettes sales nationwide in October and other pharmacy chains face pressure to follow suit, Cooper’s experience shows that retailers can swear off tobacco sales without driving away customers.
Business was good – about $36,000 a year between the two stores – but not without hassles. Despite training and warnings, store clerks were caught five times selling cigarettes to customers under 18, leading to fines and license suspensions from the city’s Board of Health.
The fifth time, in May 2000, turned out to be the last time, Cooper recalled Wednesday.
Within hours of learning about the latest violation, an exasperated Cooper was eating dinner at a Chinese restaurant with his wife and daughter, grousing about how mistakes by store clerks were hurting the stores' reputation.
“That’s when my daughter asked why we were selling them (cigarettes) to begin with; when I explained that we sold things that we didn’t use ourselves, she said, 'but they make people sick.' "
A few days later, Cooper showed up at a Board of Health hearing and turned in both licenses. “I don’t want to be part of the problem,” he told board members.
It was a question posed by Rebecca Cooper, his then-5-year-old daughter.
“Why do you even sell cigarettes? They’re bad for people,” the youngest Cooper asked in May 2000 after one of Cooper’s clerks had been cited for selling cigarettes to a minor.
As CVS prepares to end cigarettes sales nationwide in October and other pharmacy chains face pressure to follow suit, Cooper’s experience shows that retailers can swear off tobacco sales without driving away customers.
Lucky Strike Click&Roll
More than a decade before CVS, the nation’s second-largest pharmacy chain with 7,600 stores, decided to opt out of the tobacco market, Cooper was selling 121 varieties of cigarettes at Cooper’s Corner in Florence and the State Street Fruit Store, Deli, Wines & Spirits in downtown Northampton.Business was good – about $36,000 a year between the two stores – but not without hassles. Despite training and warnings, store clerks were caught five times selling cigarettes to customers under 18, leading to fines and license suspensions from the city’s Board of Health.
The fifth time, in May 2000, turned out to be the last time, Cooper recalled Wednesday.
Within hours of learning about the latest violation, an exasperated Cooper was eating dinner at a Chinese restaurant with his wife and daughter, grousing about how mistakes by store clerks were hurting the stores' reputation.
“That’s when my daughter asked why we were selling them (cigarettes) to begin with; when I explained that we sold things that we didn’t use ourselves, she said, 'but they make people sick.' "
A few days later, Cooper showed up at a Board of Health hearing and turned in both licenses. “I don’t want to be part of the problem,” he told board members.
To his surprise, business at Coopers and the
State Street Fruit Store improved in the next few weeks, even after the
leftover cigarette inventory had been crushed and thrown into dumpsters
behind the two stores.
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