https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Albany-Co-lawmakers-ban-sale-of-tobacco-12914403.php
Albany Co. lawmakers ban sale of tobacco, nicotine at pharmacies
Published 9:55 pm, Monday, May 14, 2018
ALBANY - If you’re looking to buy cigarettes in Albany County, don’t head to your local pharmacy or stores that have pharmacies.
Albany County legislators in a 26-11 vote Monday approved a ban on selling tobacco and nicotine-based products in pharmacies or stores containing pharmacies.
Advocates of the law say the sale of these proven addictive, toxic and deadly products in places that purport improving health and wellness doesn't make sense.
As one local pharmacist put it Monday evening at the Legislature meeting, “It behooves us to not be hypocritical.”
County Executive Daniel McCoy must sign the law before it is filed with the state, and will take effect three months after filing.
Legislators Paul Burgdorf, Todd Drake, Mark Grimm, Brian Hogan, Patrice Lockart, Frank Mauriello, Richard Mendick, Ralph Signoracci, Christopher Smith, Travis Stevens and Peter Tunny all voted against the ban. Loudonville Republican Peter Crouse abstained and Menands Democrat Alison McLean Lane was absent during the vote.
Some 33 retailers in the county will be affected, including Rite Aid, Price Chopper, Hannaford, ShopRite, Walgreens and Walmart.
A similar ban was proposed in 2012 and approved by the Legislature in 2014, but McCoy vetoed the measure because it lacked an enforcement mechanism. This time around, the ban allows the county health commissioner to impose a civil penalty of up to $500 a day for any facility in violation of the law.
San Francisco was the first municipality to ban tobacco products from pharmacies in 2008, arguing cigarettes and pharmacies don’t mix.
Since then, similar ordinances passed in a slew of other places in California and Massachusetts. In New York, Rockland County and New York City are the only municipalities with the bans in place.
Times Union reporter Bethany Bump contributed to this report.
