Anne Landman

Children, Pop culture, Public health

Jumpin’ Without Jesus: Get Air at the Silo to Open Soon in Grand Junction

by Anne Landman • April 17, 2014 • 0 Comments

The old Mesa Feed building on south 7th Street in LoJo is being rebuilt into a climbing and trampoline amusement park.

A controversy arose in Grand Junction last month after a parent complained about a video shown to Grand Mesa Middle School students that promoted Fellowship Church’s new youth indoctrination center, “4640.” The video boasted that 4640 had a foam pit, a ledge swing, a “spider jump center” and a delicious food court “filled with more junk food than you can imagine.” The only problem was that kids going to 4640 get pressured to become Christian.

But Fellowship Church is about to get some secular competition for the minds and bodies of local recreation-starved youth.

A trampoline and climbing amusement park called Get Air at the Silo is getting ready to open in the old Mesa Feed building at 715 S. 7th Street in LoJo (lower downtown Grand Junction). Word is the silo on the property is getting remade into a climbing course.

Attractions will include a foam pit, a series of pit trampolines that allow people to jump like rabbits from one to the next, dodge ball, gymnastics training, “Extreme Air Training,” an angled trampoline you can run up to do flips, “air jam basketball” (a tramp for slam-dunking basketballs into a hoop), a course for smaller kids and a snack and party room. The facility will be equipped with delayed-view recording cameras and a giant, flat-screen monitor that lets patrons and their friends review their jumps.

The facility is a franchise of Get Air Management, which operates large trampoline parks worldwide. Get Air has parks in Tucson, AZ, Kennewick, WA, Temecula, CA, Huntington Beach, CA, Kaysville, UT, Nicholasville, KY, Poway, CA, and has more parks set to open this summer in Oregon, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Washington and Maine.

A similar Get Air facility in Tucson, AZ charges $10 for one hour of jumping, but some cities in California charge up to $14/hour. The facility will be available for parties, and passes will be available. For the fee, patrons can jump all they want with zero pressure to become Christian.

Get Air Management requires users to sign legal waivers regarding injury and follow specific safety rules. Users of recreation facilities like foam pits and trampolines, whether they are in secular or religious facilities, need to be aware of the potential for serious injury from these activities.

Get Air Silo is located at 715 S. 7th Street in Grand Junction, near the Daily Sentinel building.

Corporations, Elections, Environment, Lies, politics

Where are the Jobs? Where are the Trails? Brady Trucking Site Sits Untouched

by Anne Landman • April 16, 2014 • 4 Comments

The Brady Trucking site by the Colorado River more than a year after citizens voted to re-zone the site. Proponents promised the re-zone would create high-paying jobs and a landscaped extension of the Colorado riverfront trail.

“Vote for Jobs and Trails!”

That was how local pro-business interests promoted passage of Referred Measure A on the April, 2013 City ballot, which asked voters to uphold light industrial zoning by the Colorado River and the proposed Las Colonias Park site, so a private company, Brady Trucking, could expand its operations.

The Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce, it’s deep-pocketed lobbying arm, the Western Colorado Business Alliance and the West Slope Oil and Gas Association all championed the re-zoning measure.

Chamber President Diane Schwenke, CEO said, “This is an issue where the voters can support good jobs and development of trails.” Schwenke promised that if the measure passed, the new jobs Brady would provide would average $70,000 per year.

“What would we as a community be willing to give up to attract this kind of business and job opportunity? And yet here we have a private company that is willing and eager to provide the opportunity and actually enhance the riverfront’s recreational opportunities at the same time,” Schwenke crowed.

If the measure passed, voters were told, Brady Trucking would build a walking and biking trail within on a 50-foot wide easement along the river, as well as fencing and landscaping. Proponents boasted Brady’s expansion would attract even more businesses and jobs to the area.

Voters passed the measure.

One year later the site is completely untouched.

No jobs, no trails, no landscaping, no nothing.

Schwenke suckered us again.

So much for the promises of a Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce.

Update – as of January 15, 2015, the site looks exactly the same.

Consumer advocacy, Corporations, Democracy, Food, Grassroots advocacy, Health, politics, Public health

Colorado GMO Labeling Law Heading for Signature-Gathering Phase

by Anne Landman • April 16, 2014 • 0 Comments

Colorado Ballot Initiative #48, the “Colorado Right to Know Act,” would require food manufacturers to include the words “Produced with Genetic Engineering” on the packaging of any products that contain genetically-modified organisms. If foods containing these organisms and are not properly labeled, they will be considered “misbranded.”

Federal law currently does not require foods containing genetically-modified ingredients to be labeled, so consumers unaware whether their food contains these organisms and unable to make an informed choice about consuming them.

The measure survived a Colorado Supreme Court challenge by biotech, pesticide and conventional grocery interests, which disputed the title, the “Colorado Right to Know Act,” as unfair, inaccurate, confusing and misleading.

Proponents of the measure will not start collecting signatures to get the measure on the November, 2014 ballot. If it passes, the law will go into effect on July 1, 2016, and would not apply to food or drink for animals, chewing gum, alcoholic beverages, restaurant or food freshly-prepared for consumption or medically-prescribed foods.

Supporters will need 86,105 valid signatures to get the measure on the ballot.

Help out, donate or keep up with the progress of the campaign for the Colorado Right to Know Act at RightToKnowColorado.org.

Corporations, Democracy, Elections, Energy, Environment, Fracking, Grassroots advocacy

Untangling Colorado’s Web of Anti-Fracking Ballot Initiatives

by Anne Landman • April 15, 2014 • 0 Comments

Colorado voters who try to figure out all the proposed statewide ballot initiatives to regulate drilling and hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) are in for a real challenge. So far, fully eleven ballot initiatives have been proposed on the subject, with many of them extremely similar to each other.

It’s tempting to think the oil and gas industry filed some of them to confuse voters and try to pass a watered-down measure, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. So far all of the initiatives filed seem to have been brought by people who truly want more serious regulation of the energy industry, or who are trying to gain an advantage over Colorado’s legal and regulatory regimen, which favors corporate dominance over the desires of residents.

Here’s a rundown on what is known so far about Colorado’s slew of proposed anti-fracking ballot measures.

Colorado Ballot Initiative Puts Rights of People Over Corporate Rights

by Anne Landman • April 14, 2014 • 0 Comments

Think businesses have too many rights over citizens? Then attend a free informational session Tuesday, April 29 in Grand Junction about the groundbreaking Ballot Initiative #75, the “Right to Local Self-Government,” also known as the “Colorado Community Rights Amendment.” Initiative #75 would amend Colorado’s constitution to make the rights of people superior to corporate rights. It is now moving to the petitioning stage, and if it passes, will give local communities “the power to enact local laws establishing, defining, altering, or eliminating the rights, powers, and duties of corporations and other business entities operating or seeking to operate in the community.” Initiative #75 would bar the state from forcing unwanted for-profit corporate projects onto unwilling communities. It would let communities have the final say in whether they want to allow pursuits like hazardous waste dumps, factory farms, fracking, GMO crops, etc., near houses, schools, playgrounds, etc. Communities would be able to make these decisions freely, without the threat of lawsuits by the state or by corporations or their lobbying groups..

What: Informational session on Ballot Initiative #75
When: Tuesday, April 29 at 6:00 p.m.
Where: Mesa County Public Library, Central branch (5th St. and Grand Ave.)
Who: By the ballot initiative’s main listed proponent, Cliff Willmeng, a registered nurse from Lafayette, CO.

Corruption, Lies, politics

Grand Junction Regional Airport’s “Security Fence”

by Anne Landman • April 10, 2014 • 1 Comment

The Grand Junction Regional Airport's multi-million dollar, electrified, biometric-access-only "Security Fence" ends out in the desert north of the airport. The fence surrounds the airport on three sides. The remaining side is fenced with an old, three-strand barbed-wire fence (Photo credit: Anonymous, taken April 7, 2014)

The Grand Junction Regional Airport’s multi-million dollar, electrified, super-secure, biometric-access-only “Security Fence” crumples to its end in the desert north of the airport. The fence surrounds the airport on three sides, with the remaining side fenced with a decrepit three-strand barbed-wire fence. The “security fence” was originally billed as a “wildlife fence,” but wildlife coming down from the Bookcliffs (seen in the distance) just stroll around it. (Photo credit: Anonymous, taken April 7, 2014)

Energy, Environment, Fracking, Health, Human rights, Public health

Over Half of Weld County’s Winter Air Pollution Comes from Drilling Rigs

by Anne Landman • April 10, 2014 • 0 Comments

Weld, County, Colorado

A team of atmospheric scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado (CU) found that drilling operations for oil and natural gas in Weld County, Colorado was the “dominant wintertime source” of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air pollution emissions in that area. VOCs contribute to the formation of ozone, a constituent of photochemical smog. The researchers tested the air at a site 2.5 miles east of downtown Erie, Colorado.

In 2011, at the time of the study, Weld County had over 15,000 active gas wells. Two years later, it had 19,000. The study, titled “Source Signature of Volatile Organic Compounds from Oil and Natural Gas Operations in NOrtheastern Colorado,” was published in Environmental Science and Technology in January, 2013.

The study’s lead author, Jessica Gilman, Ph.D., said, “Average levels of propane [in the air in Weld County] were higher than the range of values reported for 28 U.S. cities. For example, they were four to nine times higher than in Houston, Texas, and Pasadena, California.”

The CU-NOAA study also found that air pollution from oil and gas emissions have a “chemical signature” that clearly differentiates them from other air pollution sources, like vehicular exhaust.

The study found that more than half of ozone-forming pollutants in Erie come from drilling activity.

Democracy, Economics, Elections, Environment, Legal marijuana, New marijuana economy

Retail Marijuana Coming to DeBeque

by Anne Landman • April 3, 2014 • 0 Comments

The new marijuana economy crept a bit closer to Grand Junction this week, after the citizens of DeBeque, Colorado, just 25 miles east of Grand Junction, voted to approve the sale of retail pot.

DeBeque’s election is an object lesson for everyone who thinks their vote won’t count.

DeBeque has just over 500 residents. Of the 234 ballots sent out, 165 were cast. Of those, 69 were in favor of retail marijuana and 65 against. The measure won by just four votes.

DeBeque’s Town Clerk, Shirley Nichols, reports the election went smoothly, with no questionable ballots.

So, in DeBeque’s case, just four voters indisputably made Colorado history.

Hey, man, but isn’t retail pot illegal in Mesa County?

Amendment 64 legalized recreational use of marijuana throughout the state, but the law allows cities and counties to opt out of permitting retail marijuana commerce within their borders.

In August, 2013, Mesa County’s three Commissioners — Rose Pugliese, John Justman and Steve Aquafresca — unilaterally passed an ordinance banning retail marijuana commerce (pdf) in the county, but the measure only bans retail pot in unincorporated areas of the county. Incorporated cities and towns can make their own choice, so DeBeque, an incorporated town, can do whatever it wants.

And it did.

Interestingly, DeBeque citizens voted down a medical marijuana question in November, 2012. That measure failed by about 13 or 14 votes. So what’s changed since then?

Colorado Health Department Investigating Spike in Fetal Abnormalities in Heavily-Drilled Garfield County

by Anne Landman • March 31, 2014 • 0 Comments

Cross-posted from DeSmogBlog.com

Garfield County drilling rig (Photo: Garfield County government)

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) has called in an epidemiologist to investigate a recent spike in fetal abnormalities in Garfield County on Colorado’s western slope. Stacey Gavrell, Director of Community Relations for Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs, said area prenatal care providers reported an increase in fetal abnormalities to the hospital, which then notified CDPHE. So far neither the hospital nor the state have released information about the numbers of cases reported, over what span of time, or the amount of the increase.

Gavrell said it is too early to speculate on the causes of the spike in abnormalities.

The report comes on the heels of the February, 2014 publication in Environmental Health Perspectives of a study that found an association between the density of natural gas wells within a ten mile radius of expectant mothers’ homes and the prevalence of fetal anomalies such as low birth weight and congenital heart defects in their infants.

The study examined a large cohort of babies over an extended period of time in rural Colorado, and specifically controlled for confounding factors that also emit air pollution, including traffic and other heavy industries. The abnormalities in infants in the study are associated with exposure to air pollutants like those emitted from natural gas wells, including volatile organic compounds and nitrogen dioxide.

A map of current drilling activity in the Garfield County area shows the number and concentration of active wells along the busy I-70 corridor between Glenwood Springs and Rifle, one of the areas of interest in CDPHE’s investigation.

Corporations, Energy, Environment, Ethics, Fracking, politics

Colorado Legislators Seek to Punish Cities that Ban Fracking

by Anne Landman • March 21, 2014 • 0 Comments

Cross-posted from DeSmogBlog.com

$Colorado Representative Frank McNulty announced initiative effort to punish cities that ban fracking$

Colorado Representative Frank McNulty announced initiative effort to punish cities that ban fracking

Two Colorado legislators announced they are introducing a ballot initiative aimed at punishing cities and towns that vote to ban fracking within their borders.

Rep. Frank McNulty of Highlands Ranch and Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling, both Republicans, announced they will attempt to get an initiative on the ballot to block local jurisdictions from getting severance tax revenues or grants from Departments of Local Affairs as long as they have fracking bans or moratoria in place.

The state collects severance taxes on income derived from the extraction of non-renewable natural resources, like oil and gas, coal and metallic minerals. Severance taxes also help pay for programs administered by Departments of Local Affairs.

The legislators estimated it will cost about $150,000 to get the initiative on the November, 2014 ballot. According to the Colorado Secretary of State, they would need to gather approximately 86,000 valid signatures.

The lawmakers did not say why they chose a ballot initiative instead of just introducing legislation to achieve this goal, but it could be because they know chances are slim it would pass in Colorado’s Democratically-controlled legislature.

Advertising, Democracy, Economics, Food, Legal marijuana, New marijuana economy, politics

Pot Culture Comes to Grand Junction Despite City and County Bans

by Anne Landman • March 20, 2014 • 1 Comment

Discontent's giant jobbing Bong Guy greets tourists driving into Grand Junction off of I-70B. Art was a creation of their employee Kyle O'Connor.

Discontent’s giant skateboarding, stoned Bong Guy greets tourists driving into Grand Junction off of I-70B. Art was created by their employee Kyle O’Connor.

Try as they may, the Grand Junction City Council, Mesa County Commissioners and even Diane Cox haven’t been able to stop the pot culture from seeping into Grand Junction. It’s starting to show up everywhere these days, despite city and county-wide bans on retail marijuana commerce.

Roasted Espresso and Subs on 5th Street and Colorado Avenue, the coolest coffee bar in town, now offers to add cannabis seeds to any item for $1.50. Shelled cannabis seeds contain a high amount of protein and nutrients like iron, vitamin B and calcium. Reader’s Digest calls them “super seeds” and says they are a “great source of complete protein and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Cannabis seeds also contain phytosterols, plant-based compounds that help lower cholesterol levels.” The THC content of seeds is almost nonexistent.

Discontent at First Street and North Avenue — a high-visibility location at the west entrance to town — bills itself as a “lifestyle store for the counter-culture” and sells a wide selection of pipes, rolling papers, vaporizers, water pipes and other accessories. The quality of their selection of glass art bongs is so magnificent it’s hard to imagine actually using them to smoke. Discontent also carries skateboarding accessories, Van’s sneakers and clothing for the younger set, but they report their clientele has a wide age range. They had one customer who was 85 years old. (Discontent checks date of birth on customers’ IDs.) Discontent is now sporting a huge picture of a stoned, skateboarding bong-guy with bloodshot eyes on its front window.

Tourists coming in off I-70 stop in at Discontent to ask directions to the Colorado National Monument, but the store manager reports the most frequent question from tourists is “Where are the recreational pot shops?” Unfortunately, Discontent must direct them out of town to Rifle, Ridgway or Carbondale, where retail recreational marijuana stores are permitted, to spend their cash. Discontent has been so successful in its current location that they are planning to open a second store in Glenwood Springs, one of the places that has also allowed retail MJ sales. Locals can only watch helplessly as cash-laden pot tourists drive straight through town without stopping and head to points beyond to spend their money.

Rick Brainard Resurfaces

by Anne Landman • March 19, 2014 • 0 Comments

Rick Brainard’s arrest in APril, 2013 shocked Grand Junction citizens and embarrassed the City

Rick Brainard, the infamous, short-lived Grand Junction, Colorado City Councilman who was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend four days after he was elected to City Council last April, has gotten a job with KaiserAir in Santa Rosa, California as Director of Maintenance Marketing and Business Development.

His arrest in April, 2013 stunned the community and galvanized hundreds of citizens who protested in front of City Council and worked tirelessly over the next four months to oust him from Council. Brainard insisted on taking his seat on Council despite his arrest and guilty plea. After citizens formed a recall committee and it appeared his recall was imminent, he finally stepped down from Council on July 18, 2013, but claimed his leaving had nothing to do with the months of protests against him. Brainard was fired by West Star Aviation and pushed off several prestigious local boards after his guilty plea.

The Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce selected Brainard to run for office and backed his campaign financially through their “social welfare” (lobbying) group, the Western Colorado Business Alliance, leading locals to dub him a “chambermade.”

In a March 4 press release, KaiserAir announced, “We are excited about the addition of Rick to our team.”

Source: AviationPros.com, March 4, 2014 press release

Consumer advocacy, Health, Health care

A Cure for Plantar Fasciitis

by Anne Landman • March 16, 2014 • 0 Comments

The daily walk: so important!

I’ve walked three miles every morning for the last 25 years. Walking helps keeps me mentally balanced, reduces stress, helps ward off heart disease, depression and diabetes. It gives me time and space to clear my head, and frankly is the closest I ever come to meditating. It’s a must for my dog, too, who expects his daily constitution. To me, daily walking is an indispensable activity.

So last year when I came down with a serious case of plantar fasciitis and heel spurs, it might as well have been the end of the world. The pain was debilitating. I just couldn’t believe it was possible to wear out one’s feet by walking regularly. It didn’t make sense. I was desperate to make the pain go away, so I tried arch supports, shoe inserts, and all sorts of springy shoes that advertised they would help the problem. Nothing helped. I went to a podiatrist who diagnosed the problem with x-rays, recommended traditional physical therapy (at $75/hour) and cortisone injections into my foot, but the idea of sticking a needle into my foot just made me cringe. Plus, the doctor couldn’t give me any assurance that these treatments would cure the problem. It was all just stuff we could try.

Then one day during a chiropractic appointment, I complained to my practitioner, mostly for catharsis, about my plantar fasciitis and heel spurs and how they were keeping me from my daily walks. I didn’t expect him to do anything about it. I just wanted to vent.

To my great surprise, though, he said he could cure it and begged me to give him a chance to treat it.

No one had ever said anything to me like that before.

New Business Coalition Forms in Colorado to Fight Anti-Fracking Movement

by Anne Landman • March 16, 2014 • 0 Comments

Cross-posted from DeSmogBlog.com

Vital for Colorado's full page "Energy Chaos" ad is aimed at derailing a potential ballot initiative to rein in corporate power over citizens

Vital for Colorado’s full page “Energy Chaos” ads, run in rural areas of the state, are aimed at derailing a potential ballot initiative to rein in corporate power over citizens

A new pro-fracking business coalition called “Vital for Colorado” (VfC) has sprung up to fight the growing grassroots anti-fracking movement in Colorado. VfC’s board chairman and registered agent is Peter T. Moore, a senior partner at the Denver law firm of Polsinelli, P.C., which serves the oil and gas industry. Calls and emails to Peter T. Moore and VfC seeking information on the group’s major funders and legal registration information went unanswered.

Most of VfC’s supporters (pdf) are chambers of commerce in more rural areas of the state, cattle and dairy farmers, trade groups like the Colorado Wyoming Petroleum Marketers Association, prominent construction and real estate companies, and oil and gas drilling companies like Encana and Suncor Energy, which is based in Calgary, Alberta, and not in Colorado.

So why has VfC gone to Colorado’s hinterlands to try to drum up support? Because VfC’s best chance to gain support appears to be away from the front range, where so far five front range cities have passed ordinances banning fracking within their limits, a fact that has apparently made a big impression on Colorado businesses.

In typical front group fashion, VfC’s website doesn’t list a phone number and only permits email contact through a web form, but the site does give a street address for the group: 4950 S. Yosemite St., F2 #236. Coincidentally this is the same address as the former office of the issue group “No on Measure 2A,” whose registered agent was also Peter T. Moore.

A Pattern of Proselytizing in Grand Junction Public Schools?

by Anne Landman • March 4, 2014 • 0 Comments

Poster promoting Fellowship Church’s 4640 youth center, photographed at a local high school

On February 11, 2014, a sixth grader at Grand Mesa Middle School, a public school in Grand Junction, came home and handed his dad a flier promoting a hip, new youth recreation center in town called “4640.” The child said he and his schoolmates were shown a video during gym class about the 4640 recreation facility and that the name “4640” was derived from a section of the Bible meaning “John 6:40.” Students were instructed to pick up fliers and permission slips to use the facility after the presentation.

The “4640” youth recreation center belongs to Grand Junction’s Fellowship Church, and it’s one serious kid magnet. The fliers students brought home were release of liability forms that advertised 4640 had “spider jumps,” a “giant swing,” a “foam pit” and a “sports court.” The website for 4640 also touted a food court where,

“A couple bucks will buy you more junk food than your mom would approve of. We’re talking about snacks high in sugar, low in nutritional value — just the kind of fuel you need to have a blast with your 500 other Middle School friends!” **

and…

“Ever seen anybody eat a live cricket? Our Youth staff will do anything it takes to blow your mind.” **

Promotional posters for 4640 were also up at Grand Junction and Central High Schools. The posters (pictured above) did not mention that 4640 was actually at a church, that another exciting feature of the facility was a “worship pit,” or that kids using the facility would be subjected to religious indoctrination during their visits.

IHOP Sweet Cream Cheese Crepes: Ads vs. Reality

by Anne Landman • February 18, 2014 • 1 Comment

Corruption, Democracy, Ethics, Pop culture, Women

Petition Asks Grand Junction Mayor Sam Susuras to Step Down

by Anne Landman • February 12, 2014 • 0 Comments

Mayor Sam Susuras, who was never elected to office, is the target of a petition asking him to step down.

A petition is circulating on Change.org asking Grand Junction Mayor Sam Susuras to step down from office immediately. Mr. Susuras became mayor after being appointed to fill a City Council seat in 2010. In 2013, he was chosen as mayor by a minority of three out of seven council members after council made sure the mayoral vote was taken on a day when two council members were absent. Mayor Susuras’ three newly-elected allies on City Council (called “chambermades” for their insider political affiliation with the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce) all voted for him, and then construed a vote of three out of five as a majority, instead of delaying the vote until all seven council members could be in attendance. Mr. Susuras further angered Grand Junction citizens in spring, 2013 after he supported City Councilman Rick Brainard staying on Council. Brainard was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend just four days after he was elected. Brainard outraged citizens when he told police he had to hit his girlfriend because she “needed to shut her mouth.” Mr. Susuras was the only member of Council to openly defend Brainard. Brainard eventually pled guilty to the assault, and was forced out of office in July, 2013 by a grassroots citizen uprising determined to remove him from office. Susuras annoyed Grand Junction citizens again after he blocked an election to replace deceased council member Harry Butler, who died of natural causes on June 2, 2013. Susuras insisted Council appoint a new council member to replace Butler instead of allowing citizens to elect their own council member. Council ended up appointing a man who had a DUI arrest on his record for driving with a blood alcohol content that was twice the normal limit. Most recently, Susuras referred to members of the G.J. Airport Board who have drawn an FBI investigation for fraud as “visionaries,” and advocated continuing to lie to the federal government about a new building under construction at the airport in order to keep federal funds given to build it. Former airport director Rex Tippets, who was fired amid the fraud investigation, had illicitly portrayed the new building as a terminal, when it is actually a new administration building. The government would help pay to build a new terminal building, but not an administration building. The petition states, “Mr. Susuras, we are outraged, horrified and thoroughly embarrassed by your actions on Council, and we no longer want you as our representative. Please take this vote of ‘no confidence’ to heart and step down from Council immediately.”

Advertising, Consumer advocacy, Corporations, Ethics, Grassroots advocacy, Health, Marketing, Pharmaceutical, Public health, Tobacco, Tobacco documents

The Activism Behind CVS’s Cigarette Announcement

by Anne Landman • February 7, 2014 • 0 Comments

CVS touts its apparent new-found interest in people’s health

CVS Drugstores announced this week that they are finally acting on information the rest of us have known for fifty years: they’re going to stop selling cigarettes because they are addictive and deadly. On February 5, 2014 CVS announced that it would end cigarette sales at its 7,600 stores nationwide by October 1. What CVS didn’t mention was the grassroots efforts behind this move, including the relentless driving force of a human being, Dr. Terence A. Gerace, who carried out an almost four year-long, single-focus, one-man campaign to push CVS to stop selling cigarettes. Dr. Gerace started his campaign in earnest on May 20, 2010. Over the years it has included a web site containing a log and description of every single one of the days he personally stood protesting in front of a busy CVS store in a prominent part of Washington, D.C., a “CVS Sells Poison” Facebook page, a “CVS Sells Poison” YouTube song and video, almost 170 days of personal protest in all kinds of weather at the Washington, D.C. store and some imaginative, hand-made iterations of what Terry though CVS ads could look like if the chain finally went cigarette-free. To his credit, though, Dr. Gerace has turned down offers of publicity for himself now that CVS has finally agreed to stop selling cigarettes, saying the focus should be on the change, and for that he deserves a gold medal.

Some communities understand that it is wrong for pharmacies, which market themselves as interested in peoples’ health, to sell cigarettes. A few enlightened U.S. cities, including San Francisco, Richmond, California, Boston and about 80 other cities in Massachusetts now have ordinances banning pharmacies from selling cigarettes. Canada prohibits pharmacies from selling cigarettes and so does the United Kingdom. In Europe, pharmacies do not sell cigarettes.

For decades the tobacco industry has protected the big national chain drug stores against lawsuits brought by people who were sickened by cigarettes bought at their stores through contracts that indemnify the stores against such legal action. After all, the pharmacies know they are selling a deadly product but keep doing it, to the cigarette makers’ great financial advantage. CVS had many such protective contracts with cigarette companies. To see the contracts tobacco companies held with any drug chain, just go to the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library online and enter the search term “indemnify and hold harmless” along with the name of any major drug store chain you like to shop at, like Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, etc. They’re all there, demonstrating that these stores know they are selling a deadly product and choose to do it anyway.

Now that CVS has decided to stop selling cigarettes, the only question left in people’s minds is no longer which national chain drug store will be the first to stop selling cigarettes. It’s which one will be the last.

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