Local
City responds to Walgreens suit over tobacco sales
By: Brent Begin
Examiner Staff Writer
June 11, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO — A fight about selling tobacco products in drugstores has flared up.
The City passed a law in 2008 that banned drugstores such as Walgreens and Rite-Aid from selling tobacco products.
The company sued, but in a judge denied the lawsuit, leading to an appeal.
“Basically the way the ordinance is written now, big-box stores and supermarkets that operate pharmacies can still sell cigarettes, and that’s not fair because it singles us out,” Walgreen Co. spokesman Robert Elfinger said.
The City fired back Wednesday with a 39-page brief.
“Consumers reasonably expect drugstores to serve their health needs, not to enable their deadliest habits,” said City Attorney Dennis
Herrera.
