cvs health stops selling tobacco Vows to Quit Products ABC7 - CVS drug stores

LOS ANGELES -- As CVS sharpens its focus on customer health, the nation's second-largest drugstore chain will tweak its corporate name and stop the sale of tobacco nearly a month sooner than planned

But theres still more to do

In an essay published in February in the Journal of the American Medical Association with Steven Schroeder, director of the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center, CVS' Chief Medical Officer Troyen Brennan said reducing cigarette availability is another step toward taking tobacco use out of the mainstream and making it less socially acceptable

Troyen Brennan told Fortune .And its about prevention. Its clear that the tobacco decision continues to hurt CVSs retail sales and shopper traffic: same-store sales of general merchandise, known as front store same-store sales (excludes pharmacy prescriptions) fell 5% last year, but would have been roughly unchanged over 2014 otherwise

CVS has pulled tobacco products from its 7,700 stores three weeks ahead of schedule

For these statements, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995