Many cities have bans on cigarette use in public places, including outdoors. While chewing tobacco may not exactly be included in the same way, few people use it, and there is the problem of what to do with it when it is done being chewed. One of America’s most famous cities has eliminated tobacco sales completely, as American municipalities make tobacco use and purchases harder and harder.

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Beverly Hills will have complete ban on tobacco sales as of January 1, 2021. Its city council calls it a “landmark decision.” There are a very limited number of exceptions:

A permanent exemption/carve out for existing cigar lounges;
Effective January 1, 2021, hotels, existing and future, may only sell to guests;
Effective January 1, 2021, all other businesses shall stop selling tobacco products;
A hardship exemption provision for retailers that demonstrate the ban would cause undue hardship

The council will review any effect on tourism in three years.

Bans on smoking are in place in 5,100 municipalities in the United States. The list grows by the year. The American NonSmokers’ Rights Foundation claims, “Currently, 25 states, along with the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, have laws in effect that require all non-hospitality workplaces, restaurants, and bars to be 100% smokefree.” California is already near the bottom of the list of states with the most smokers.

The movement has decimated the tobacco industry in the United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research shows that tobacco sales have continued to decline recently.

Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States. It causes about 480,000 deaths, and more than 16 million Americans suffer from diseases caused by smoking. Heart disease is high on the lists of these maladies. However, California is not among the states with the most heart disease.

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