Dealing With Health and Smoking

CVS Renames Itself CVS Health as it Ends Sale of Tobacco Products (1) Who are the major winners and losers in this story? Why do you think so? The new CVS strategy definitely seems more consistent relative to health promotion. Promoting health and well-being includes smoking cessation and being smoke free. By selling tobacco products, many argued that CVS was sending mixed signals to their clients. However, the reorganization of the company, now referred to as CVS health, sends a clear message that they are in the health promotion business.

Yet, by doing so, the company is also sacrificing a significant revenue stream in all their locations. It is too early to tell if the more consistent mission statement will overcome the loss in revenues that they will experience throughout the transition. The general public should be a winner in this situation as well. Although some consumers might be inconvenienced in regard to purchasing tobacco products, the overall effect will be to apply some pressure to consumers to quit smoking and therefore improve their health.

Public health should benefit as well as all of the groups and organizations that are dedicated to improving health. Smoking tobacco harms every organ in the body and smoking cessation can be a cornerstone of health improvement (CDC, N.d.). Therefore any effort to incentivize the population to quit smoking should be a win for the general public and the CVS consumer base. (2) What are the other alternatives (beside "to ends sale of tobacco")? There are many alternatives to completely ending the sale of tobacco.

One alternative that has been tried in many areas across the U.S. and the world is to heavily tax the sale of tobacco products. This has been shown to reduce the prevalence of smoking in the general population and there are many studies that have been conducted to verify this trend. "Tobacco tax increases are one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking and other tobacco use, especially among kids.

Every 10% increase in cigarette prices reduces youth smoking by about seven percent and total cigarette consumption by about four percent .. In recent years, almost every state and the federal government have increased tobacco taxes. The average state cigarette tax is currently $1.60 per pack, but rates vary widely from 17 cents in Missouri to $4.35 in New York. (Tobacco Free, N.d.)" Other studies corroborate the fact that higher prices for tobacco products leads to a reduction in the overall consumption of these products.

There are also other strategies that can be used other than ending the sales of tobacco. For example, education and outreach is another option. Organizations can work to educate consumers about the risks that are associated with tobacco use. If individuals understand the full set of risks to their own health that they face with the usage of tobacco products, then they will be less.