Friday, June 11, 2010
Business / Health / Law & Order
Tobacco Ban Rematch -- Walgreens: 1, City of San Francisco: 0, Smokers: ?
Posted
By Ashley Harrell
on Fri, Jun 11, 2010 at 2:44 PM
click to enlarge
When San Francisco banned tobacco sales in drugstores but not big-box stores or supermarkets with pharmacies, Walgreens found that unfair, took the matter before a trial court, and lost. Now the a
California appeals court has essentially asked what the trial court was smoking.The idea behind the ban was that to sell cigarettes out of a store with a pharmacy was somehow implying that cigarettes were a-okay. But strangely, only pharmacies were subjected this line of thinking. The appeals court agreed with Walgreens that there was no difference, when it came to selling cigarettes, between its stores and big-box or grocery stores.
Walgreens can move forward with their challenge, according to court documents. The pharmacy chain is expected to argue that San Francisco's ban violates equal protection rights under the
law.
Tags: Cigarettes, Court of Appeals, Walgreens, Image
