(Santa Ana) - In celebration of National Pharmacy Week, October 23rd through 27th, the Orange County Health Care Agency's, Tobacco Use Prevention Program (TUPP) in collaboration with Orange County On Track and Prescription for Change, will honor the Horton & Converse pharmacy chain for not selling any tobacco products in their stores.

A press conference will be held on Wednesday, October 25, 2000 at 11:00 a.m. in the lobby in front of the Horton & Converse pharmacy located at 1310 West Stewart Street, adjacent to Children’s Hospital of Orange County in Orange, California.

This public effort to praise the Horton & Converse pharmacy chain for being tobacco free was planned to highlight pharmacies that are working toward healthy California communities. The three collaborating agencies are working to encourage more pharmacies and chain drugstores to adopt tobacco free policies and practices. At the press conference, each Horton & Converse pharmacy will be presented with a "Certificate of Commendation" that honors them for making a commitment to tobacco free health.

"We feel it is important to highlight pharmacies and chain drugstores in Orange County that no longer sell this deadly substance because we know that it is the only product that, when used as directed, kills." says Mark B. Horton, MD, MSPH, Deputy Agency Director/Health Officer of the County of Orange Health Care Agency.

"My family has owned the Horton & Converse chain since the early 1970’s," says Keith R. Lumpkin, President of the Horton & Converse Pharmacy Chain. "In late 1996 we made the decision to stop the sale of all tobacco products in all of our stores because we value the health of our customers over profits from the sale of tobacco.

The Horton & Converse chain has been operating since 1917, which Charles S. Horton and Lawrence R. Converse decided to open as a prescription pharmacy in Los Angeles. Today Horton & Converse has 13 pharmacies, 11 in Los Angeles County and 2 in Orange County.

According to the recent survey of Adult California Consumers conducted by California State Fullerton, Social Science Research Center,

• Seventy two percent of all consumers were against drugstores carrying tobacco products at all.

• Also, over 96 percent of all California consumers would continue to shop at a pharmacy more or the same if it stopped selling tobacco products.

• Currently, 78 percent of California’s independently owned pharmacies do not carry tobacco products, while fully 98 percent of chain drugstores continue to do so.

"Small independent pharmacies are able to thrive without tobacco sales and we are thrilled to see a chain like Horton & Converse take such a crucial step in promoting good health for Orange County." stated Christine Fenlon, Director of Prescription for Change. " Our survey data supports the fact that California’s consumers are ready for all chain drugstores to join Horton & Converse and stop selling and promoting tobacco products."

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The mission of the Orange County Health Care Agency’s Tobacco Use Prevention Program (TUPP) is to reduce tobacco use and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in Orange County by mobilizing a broad-based network of community organizations and committed individuals. The Pharmacy Project works with pharmacists and drug store owners to increase cessation, reduce tobacco and advertising and access, as well as promote policies that encourage tobacco free pharmacies.