In the same vein as CVS and tobacco, pharmacist in Nova Scotia pulls all sugary drinks.

I bet he still sells homeopathic medicine though...

I actually think this is really awesome. I'm probably in the minority, though. I shun those kinds of things anyway, but most people love their sugary beverages and will likely see this as ridiculous and will take their business elsewhere. I hope the businessman doesn't suffer too much for doing this.

Alan_Often said:

I bet he still sells homeopathic medicine though...

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Not sure why you felt the need to make this dig?

Witch_turtle said:

Not sure why you felt the need to make this dig?

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Perhaps to illustrate that "things damaging the nation's health" is a subjective and debatable category that people should think twice about enforcing on others just because they can and think they know best?

For example, I am drinking pepsi right now but would not touch homeopathy with a bargepole. But I think a store that carries beverages and health products should reasonable stock both for the convenience of their customers who each have their own choices to make based on their own beliefs.

veinglory said:

Perhaps to illustrate that "things damaging the nation's health" is a subjective and debatable category that people should think twice about enforcing on others just because they can and think they know best?

For example, I am drinking pepsi right now but would not touch homeopathy with a bargepole. But I think a store that carries beverages and health products should reasonable stock both for the convenience of their customers who each have their own choices to make based on their own beliefs.

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well said. I agree.

Ah, sorry. Didn't mean to "dig". It's just that our pharmacies in Canada are full of scam medicines (which homeopathy undoubtedly is). Maybe the pharmacist in question also excised these products from his shelves, but I bet not. Guess I could have been less snarky about it, though. Apologies.

IMO homeopathy is dangerous because people often opt for it instead of, not on top of, real medical treatment. It's preying on people, like the guy who sold dowsing rods to detect bombs in the middle east. Anyway, sorry to derail.

veinglory said:

But I think a store that carries beverages and health products should reasonable stock both for the convenience of their customers who each have their own choices to make based on their own beliefs.

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In this case, it isn't just a "store that carries beverages and health products." It's a pharmacy. Customers can make their own choices to buy cake and ice cream, too. That doesn't mean they belong in a pharmacy.

I don't know. I don't think sugary beverages are that bad, but if the owner doesn't think they fit with the image he wants to put out, I can see why he doesn't want to sell them there. Refusing to stock prescriptions would be something else. But this is just at item that doesn't necessarily need to be sold in a pharmacy.

Seems fine.

That can of Pepsi someone will drink would have grown up to be a vending machine one day. I don't think humans should eat other creatures' babies. It's so callous.

I think people who own their own stores should get to sell what they want to sell.

Some of the schools around here have taken junk food and sugary drinks out of the school vending machines. Their decision to do that was based on evidence that those things contribute to health problems (just as does smoking). Kids can still get what they want to consume outside of school. So that ban is only enforced for part of a few days a week, not total.

I am a big believer in homeopathy. A few months ago, I was diagnosed with an incurable auto-immune disorder. After months with no relief from my symptoms using regular medicine, I chose to go the naturopathic route. In just 3 weeks, by doing nothing more than adding a multi-vitamin, zinc, vitamin D3, probiotic and a supplement called MTHR (it's an activated form of folic acid) my symptoms are almost completely gone. I think it works for some people -- and that they should be allowed that choice. No one is forcing anyone (except maybe their own children) who doesn't want it to use naturopathy or homeopathy. If anyone feels kids are in danger because of their parent's choice, they can file a complaint with Children's Services. It's a belief system, just like Christianity is. If no one is hurting you, why not just ignore it and live and let live?

Karen Junker said:

I think people who own their own stores should get to sell what they want to sell.

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I think so, too, but within reason. I would have a real problem with a pharmacy refusing to fill prescriptions. If they don't want to fill prescriptions, they probably shouldn't be a pharmacy. But a pharmacy doesn't necessarily need to stock beverages at all. It seems that many of them do stock beverages because people might come in to pick up a prescription and happen to pick up a beverage too. The pharmacy makes more money that way, but if they don't want to do that, I don't see a problem with it.

Yeah, a pharmacy that only sells select drugs is pretty useless in my view.

My husband used to be a manager of a 7-11 and he says that if they didn't sell cigarettes and beer, they'd be out of business pretty quickly. Sugar drinks are a very slim percentage of their sales.

Karen Junker said:

I think people who own their own stores should get to sell what they want to sell.

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I do too. I think that pharmacist's belief is woefully misguided, if not stupid, but it's not like they're not gonna stock medicine.

I am a big believer in homeopathy.

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Given that homeopathy defies the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology and contains no actual active ingredient in it at all, people's belief is the only thing it has going for it.

Karen Junker said:

I am a big believer in homeopathy. A few months ago, I was diagnosed with an incurable auto-immune disorder. After months with no relief from my symptoms using regular medicine, I chose to go the naturopathic route. In just 3 weeks, by doing nothing more than adding a multi-vitamin, zinc, vitamin D3, probiotic and a supplement called MTHR (it's an activated form of folic acid) my symptoms are almost completely gone. I think it works for some people -- and that they should be allowed that choice. No one is forcing anyone (except maybe their own children) who doesn't want it to use naturopathy or homeopathy. If anyone feels kids are in danger because of their parent's choice, they can file a complaint with Children's Services. It's a belief system, just like Christianity is. If no one is hurting you, why not just ignore it and live and let live?

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To save you some time and trouble, when most people talk about homeopathy these days, they're talking about scams that basically lie about their ingredients, not natural and traditional medicines.

Hey, I never said it was scientific! But part of my personal religious belief system is that magic works. Some people think prayer works. Whatevs. I try not to go around making fun of people whose beliefs are different from mine (unless they are also so powerless that they can never find me and beat me up).

I know the difference between homeopathy and naturopathy -- It may not have been clear, because I said I believe in homeopathy and then immediately described my treatment plan from a naturopath.

At Bastyr University (which is near where I live and one of the very few places in the US that teach it) you can take courses in Homeopathy. It is a natural healing modality -- I am not an expert, but I have used a homeopathic doctor in the past and their medicines. The ones I used were tinctures with miniscule amounts of certain elements in them. A common one is Arnica -- it's used to treat shock, grief, pain and so on. I know a lot of people who swear by it.

The way I understand it, it's sort of like how a vaccine works -- only a millionth strength (ish).

I know there are scams and quacks -- there always have been. But one person's scam is another person's saving throw.

There is nothing any more fraudulent about homeopathy than there is about any other type of medicine -- the people who practice it are, for the most part, decent honest people. I think it's always wise to check out the credentials of a practitioner, check out the ingredients of a medicine (and its reported effects and side effects) and do what works for you.

I don't mind small single-proprietor stores deciding what they will or will not carry - to a point. I don't like somebody deciding what I can or cannot buy based not on law but on their personal beliefs. If I go to a grocery store and they don't sell cigarettes, the next time I go to one that does. So the first store is within their 'rights' not to sell them - but they lose that $2-300 each month of my grocery money. Same with 'sugarey drinks' (although I agree that a pharmacy probably isn't the place for such things. I don't think I've ever seen that around here).

Out of curiosity, why, under this logic, did the place remove "diet pop"? That's not supposed to contain any sugar, right? Now, I know that diet sodas have other things in them that physicians warn against, but still, under the anti-sugar logic . . . ?

caw

Xelebes said:

while it may not have the calories, it does continue to make you crave more.

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So much for the legalization of marijuana.

caw

What's interesting is that the store in question appears to be one of the 'Pharmasave' chain. If it is, and it's like the ones out here (and Shopper's Drug Mart, and London Drugs) the actual 'pharmacy' is sort of bait at the back of the store.

It's one long, section, separating the pharmacist, and the 'prescription only' drugs, by a counter (hence the designation 'over-the-counter' for stuff that the customer can pick up off the shelves themselves).

The other half to 3/4 of the store (depending on the chain) is made up of food, drink, candy, notions, toys, stationery, magazines, toiletries, and random oddments.

I'm surprised that the chain allows that much discretion in what a store can carry, as it must eat into the profits. And, I'm impressed that the pharmacist has taken a stand that will lose him money.

As long as he doesn't pick-and-choose what medications to carry and dispense, hey, it's his business.

Although I use a different chain, I'm going to ask my pharmacist if she's heard about this.

veinglory said:

Perhaps to illustrate that "things damaging the nation's health" is a subjective and debatable category that people should think twice about enforcing on others just because they can and think they know best?

For example, I am drinking pepsi right now but would not touch homeopathy with a bargepole. But I think a store that carries beverages and health products should reasonable stock both for the convenience of their customers who each have their own choices to make based on their own beliefs.

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Fair enough. I was thinking homeopathic=naturopathic/traditional but I suppose there is a distinction.

And yes, people should get to have a choice, but these beverages which are so full of sugar and chemicals, with no nutritional value, are so prevalent--they're everywhere, they're the norm, and people get pulled into thinking consuming them is "normal." It's not, and all allowing them to remain so prevalent is doing is teaching younger generations that "this is what we drink," getting people addicted, etc.

Witch_turtle said:

It's not, and all allowing them to remain so prevalent is doing is teaching younger generations that "this is what we drink," getting people addicted, etc.

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But that presupposes that parents have no role in forming kids' eating habits. My son never touched pop until he was in high school, and even today (he's in his 30s) he prefers real fruit juice to pop. Maybe instead of getting rid of certain things in stores, the stores should be putting up posters: "Do you know what your kids are eating tonight?".

I was about to object to this (remembering New York City's 16-ounce-max soft drinks that we had a longish thread about in recent years), but I see it is just another business making decisions about what it sells, and I don't have a problem with that.

But on to the other topic of what I'm surprised to find Canadian pharmacies sell:

Karen Junker said:

...
I am a big believer in homeopathy.
...
If no one is hurting you, why not just ignore it and live and let live?

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I think James Randi answers that quite well in the links I give below.

Karen Junker said:

I know the difference between homeopathy and naturopathy -- It may not have been clear, because I said I believe in homeopathy and then immediately described my treatment plan from a naturopath.

At Bastyr University (which is near where I live and one of the very few places in the US that teach it) you can take courses in Homeopathy. It is a natural healing modality -- I am not an expert, but I have used a homeopathic doctor in the past and their medicines. The ones I used were tinctures with miniscule amounts of certain elements in them. A common one is Arnica -- it's used to treat shock, grief, pain and so on. I know a lot of people who swear by it.

The way I understand it, it's sort of like how a vaccine works -- only a millionth strength (ish).

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A millionth strength would be a 3C dilution. The "C" number that tells how much it was diluted, as described here (this is also a more detail explanation of what Opty said) - the higher dilutions have NO amount of the original substance in them, but that's not a problem for those who believe in homeopathy:
http://www.1023.org.uk/what-is-homeopathy.php

In this video, James Randi takes (what is according to homeopathy) a fatal dose of homeopathic sleeping pills:
https://www.ted.com/talks/james_randi
He takes it near the start of this 17-minute talk, and manages to stay alive through the whole talk.

Here James Randi writes about people's beliefs and how following these beliefs can hurt them:
http://www.wired.com/2012/05/opinion-randi-frauds/
If the whole thing is too long to read, skip down to this line:

Here is what appears on the dedication page of that book:

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and read to the end. It's a heartbreaking story.

Perhaps most famously, Steve Jobs used alternative medicine for his pancreatic cancer.

I think there's a big difference between a pharmacist not offering certain medical treatments, which are necessary things that people can't buy just anywhere, and declining to sell a luxury product that has no health benefits at all and can be bought in a dozen other places, probably within walking distance.