Pharmacy Sales of Tobacco - NYTimes.com Re "Business Owners Take Aim at Proposed Smoking Laws" (news article, May 3), about a package of legislation to discourage smoking now being considered by the New York City Council: I suggest banning all tobacco sales in pharmacies. Pharmacies that supposedly desire to promote the health of our citizens sell cigarettes, and the cigarette displays are often the largest display behind the cashiers. When I prescribe smoking cessation aids, my patients purchase them from the very stores that sell their cigarettes. I question the ethics of any pharmacy that sells tobacco. The pharmacies that help explain the use of medications to my patients should explain to them why they promote the premature deaths of my patients by selling them this poison. The very store that sells the medicines for treatment of heart and lung diseases is the same store that sells the cigarettes. It is time for pharmacies to acknowledge this problem and stop their sale of cigarettes, even if this is not legislated. Imagine the uproar if a hospital or medical office dispensed cigarettes to make a profit. Now it is time for pharmacies to face the truth. They save lives by dispensing medicines, and promote death by selling the cigarettes. Tobacco and pharmacies should never be together. The writer is an internist and gastroenterologist, and an associate clinical professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.