The Food and Drug Administration has been in contentious conflict with e-cigarette makers, attempting numerous times to regulate the product, sometimes effectively and other times not. E-cigarette companies successfully contended in a lawsuit against the FDA that they are tobacco products, and the FDA therefore has no jurisdiction over their regulation because it infringes Congress’s intent to withhold FDA’s authority over tobacco products

But the catch is Johnson died at the age of 36. So for much of his life he must have known full well the dangers of smoking. From 1966, packets in the US warned smoking may be hazardous to health. From 1970 it became a more definitive "The Surgeon General Has Determined that Cigarette Smoking is Dangerous to Your Health". That Johnson could not quit his addiction is a different matter. But the verdict is clearly less about Johnson’s tragedy as it is about teaching cigarette companies a lesson for peddling a vice. 

On Feb. 5 one of the biggest national drugstore chains announced something that would once have been unthinkable: It will cease selling one of its most in-demand items, simply because the company believes that’s the right thing to do. Sounds hard to believe, right? Sure does. But could CVS Pharmacy's decision to quit selling cigarettes as of Oct. 1 be a major turning point in our country’s quest to become a healthier America? Absolutely.