July 13, 2009

Kansas Advocates Petition for CVS to Unlock Condoms Nationwide

Advocates throughout Kansas join more than 200 groups nationwide in a petition urging drug store chain CVS Caremark Corp. to stop its practice of keeping condoms locked in cases, especially in low-income neighborhoods with high numbers of minorities, The Kansas City Star reports. The national petition is sponsored by Change to Win, a labor coalition.

The Star visited 19 CVS stores in the Kansas City areas and found that nine keep the prophylactics locked away. Most of the condoms in cases are 12-packs that cost $9 to $12. All nine of these stores were in neighborhoods where about 26 percent of the population is below the poverty level. Eight of the nine stores in neighborhoods with African-American populations higher than 12.3 percent locked up their condoms.

African Americans account for about half of HIV infections in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Reverend Eric Williams from the Calvary Temple Baptist Church’s Community Outreach Network in Kansas City expressed concern that placing condoms in locked cases can discourage people from using them. Though Calvary upholds the ideal of abstinence until marriage, it signed the petition in hopes that increased access to condoms could stop the spread of the virus.

“When the house is on fire, you do everything you can to put the fire out,” Williams said.

CVS said condoms are locked up to deter shoplifting in stores where large numbers of condoms were stolen, adding that smaller packs with three condoms are available in unlocked displays.The Star found these smaller displays in all but two of the stores with condoms locked in cases.

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Previous Comments:

jeff, kc, 2009-07-17 09:20:47
this is a joke! blaming a company for not wanting their products ripped off for contributing to un-safe sex practices is the most ludicrous argument i have seen in years. so, should the liquor stores in these areas remove their bullet proof glass and cameras fo rthe thirsy folks as well? pass out free condoms in these areas. this will help these people far more!

Phil, Panama City, 2009-07-16 14:23:24
A Privately owned company should have the right to lock up item they have for sale. It is time we stop taking away the rights of people and company's for one sector of the people.

James, Kamiah, ID, 2009-07-15 09:16:32
Unfortunally, I lived and worked for a major pharmacy in Dallas TX before moving to northern Idaho, and Condoms are locked up because they are stolen and resold though supposed Black Market Stores, Why should the Company have to pay the cost of the stolen condoms through lost profits? Encourage the state governments to provide free condoms though thier health departments. Note, The store I worked at did not lock up thier condoms.

Parker, Los Angeles, 2009-07-14 15:06:52
"THOSE people", "THOSE neighborhoods" sounds suspiciously like a round about way of blaming low-income people for their being HIV+. C'mon folks, this is the 21st century. "THEY" is US and WE are THEM.

Michael Irwin, London UK, 2009-07-14 13:00:59
This is a dangerous move, in my opinion. By all means lobby for greater availability of condoms and funds but to insist that a private company opens itself to greater incidence of theft is ridiculous. To claim that CVS has greater responsibility for our well-being then they actually do is very short-sighted and dumb.

mlf, Trenton, NJ, 2009-07-14 12:51:48
CVS has the right to keep items that are being stolen locked away.. if people did not steal them there would be no reason to lock them up. It is not a race issue, it is a rights issue, the right for CVS to keep what is theirs from being stolen.

Michael, Haslett, 2009-07-14 10:41:24
I think that it is sad that this has to be the way CVS handles their products, but these people have to understand that it is because of those people in those neighborhoods that this has to be this way. If people were not stealing them, they would not have to be locked up like that. I agree, even though they prevent STD in most cases, that is not a good enough reason for stealing them when you can't afford them.