By Cris Italia
To avoid severe penalties, Walgreens has agreed to make sweeping changes in its operations as part of a settlement to prevent the sale of tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18.
"As both Attorney General and father of three girls, I find the statistics on children who smoke frightening," Spitzer said. "Each day more than 5,000 children try their first cigarette and 2,000 others become regular daily smokers."
Walgreens, which has a store on Long Beach Road in Oceanside, was just one of many stores throughout Long Island going through these specific changes.
"About half of all children who smoke usually buy their own cigarettes, that is why it's critically important that supermarkets and convenience and drugs stores throughout New York do a much better job of obeying and enforcing the law, Spitzer stated.
Walgreens will be hiring and paying for an outside firm, approved by the state, to do compliance checks at hundreds of randomly selected stores throughout the nation every six months. Walgreens must meet a 90 percent compliance standard for two consecutive six moth periods, otherwise the external checks will continue. In addition, the drug store plans to utilize security to monitor tabacco sales by employees at the cash registers.
Walgreens will also be:
