Walgreens' most recent attempt to overturn San Francisco's ban on cigarette and tobacco sales in pharmacies failed as a city judge upheld the city ordinance, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Dec. 20.

The pharmacy chain claimed that the ban, which went into effect Oct. 1 and prohibits drug stores from selling tobacco products, gives supermarkets and big-box retailers an unfair advantage by exempting them from the ban. However, Judge Peter Busch said that city supervisors had a reasonable basis for prohibiting such sales in pharmacies and not supermarkets because customers visit pharmacies to improve their health, and that by selling tobacco products drug stores are sending young people the message that smoking is acceptable.

Busch also ruled in favor of the ban in September, when Walgreens sought to stop the ban from taking effect Oct. 1.

Daniel Kolkey, an attorney for Walgreens, said the measure "simply shifts tobacco sales from Walgreens to its competitors without reducing the sale of cigarettes one iota." Walgreens is planning to appeal, he added.

"The so-called purpose for this ordinance is to avoid an implied message that smoking is acceptable, but the Board (of Supervisors) nowhere explains how this is credible or how it can distinguish the implied message emanating from some businesses with pharmacies versus others," Koley said.

A federal judge recently threw out a similar lawsuit filed by Phillip Morris.