Beverly Hills says it is the first US city to ban tobacco sales

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Where No One Wants Wrinkles –

June 6, 2019 – The move compounds Beverly Hills’ already-strict regulation of tobacco and nicotine use, which includes bans on smoking in apartment complexes, on public sidewalks and in city parks, among other areas. The sale of flavored tobacco products is already prohibited by the city. Mirisch said he hopes that by removing tobacco products, including popular e-cigarettes, from store shelves, the city can prevent kids from developing a nicotine habit … “Children will not be interested in starting, and (smoking) won’t be looked upon as cool or anything but damaging and bad,” Mirisch said.

As it is, California has one of the lowest rates of smoking in the country, second only to Utah, according to Ruth Malone, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco and editor-in-chief of Tobacco Control, a journal on tobacco control policy. “It’s not the first time that communities have tried to do this,” Malone said. “I think when you understand the history of the cigarette as a consumer product, which is the single-most deadly consumer product ever made, it kind of makes sense that finally somebody would say, ‘Wait a minute, this is too dangerous to be sold on every street corner.’”