SOUTHLAND : Ban on Free Tobacco Samples Urged
A City Council committee voted today to stop tobacco companies from handing out free samples on city streets and sidewalks.
Members of the council’s Police, Fire and Public Safety Committee voted unanimously to approve the ban after several council members and health organization representatives voiced concern that the free distribution of cigarettes and other tobacco products could encourage more people to pick up the habit.
“I believe the city should set the moral tone that it does not encourage people to smoke cigarettes and to utilize the public streets for promotion of cigarettes,” said Councilman Marvin Braude, a militant nonsmoker who proposed the ban.
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