The U.S. Food and Drug Administration singled out Walgreens Boots Alliance WBA, -0.38% on Thursday for violating restrictions on selling cigars and menthol cigarettes to minors, saying the company is currently “the top violator among pharmacies that sell tobacco products.”
In a statement, the regulatory agency said it had issued more than 1,500 warning letters and 240 civil money penalty actions against Walgreens stores nationwide for unlawful tobacco product sales to minors. The FDA zeroed in on one particular Walgreens store in Miami, Fla., saying it had filed a complaint seeking to bar the branch from selling tobacco products for 30 days.
Federal rules stipulate that retailers are only allowed to sell tobacco products to customers age 18 or older.
The FDA also mentioned Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. ATD.B, +0.74% subsidiary Circle K Stores Inc., which owns and operates a chain of convenience stories. The agency is also looking to bar a Circle K store in Charleston, S.C., from selling tobacco products for the next 30 days due to repeated violations on the sale of tobacco products to minors.
But most of the FDA's chagrin was reserved for Walgreen’s, with FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb saying he would request a meeting with the company’s corporate management to discuss “whether there is a corporate-wide issue related to their stores’ non-compliance and put them on notice that the FDA is considering additional enforcement avenues to address their record of violative tobacco sales to youth.”
Gottlieb, referring to Walgreens, added that he was “deeply disturbed that a single pharmacy chain racked up almost 1,800 violations for selling tobacco products to minors across the country.” According to the FDA, 22% of Walgreen’s stores inspected sold tobacco products to minors illegally compared to 17.5% of Walmart Inc. WMT, +1.14% stores, 14% of Dollar General Corp. DG, +0.88% stores and 9.6% of Rite Aid Corp. RAD, -1.27% stores.
“We take this matter very seriously and have taken a number of steps to help address the important issue of sales of these products to minors, including requiring identification for anyone purchasing tobacco products regardless of age in all of our stores nationwide,” a Walgreens spokesman told MarketWatch in an emailed statement. “In addition, we are training all of our store team members on the new requirements and strengthening disciplinary actions against store employees who violate the policy. We recognize the seriousness of this issue and welcome the opportunity to meet with the FDA administrator to discuss all of the steps we are taking since the health and well-being of our customers is our top priority and core mission.”
“At Circle K, we have recently become aware of the action taken by the FDA against one of our stores in Charleston, South Carolina, and will work with the agency on this issue,” a Circle K spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. “We... take pride in being a responsible retailer of age-restricted products and will continue to adhere to federal and local laws.”
According to preliminary data from the 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey, an estimated 4.9 million middle and high school students reported that they had used a tobacco product in the past 30 days, the FDA said.
The regulatory agency has made recent moves to crack down on the sale of e-cigarettes, devices that deliver nicotine and can contain flavorings. It effectively pulled flavored pod-style e-cigarettes from most convenience stores and gas stations and has put into place strict age verification rules for online retailers. On Thursday, the FDA said an “epidemic-level” rise in e-cigarette use over the last year has led overall tobacco product use to increase by 38% among high school students and 29% among middle school students.
Read: FDA to sharply curtail sales of flavored e-cigarettes in convenience stores
Also read: Young people apparently don’t realize these popular ‘crème brulée’ e-cigarettes contain nicotine
Although e-cigarettes may help adults quit smoking, public health experts have voice concerns that their increasing popularity among young people could put youths at higher risk of smoking tobacco later on.
Shares of Walgreens have gained 3.4% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.94% has gained 7%.
