Town Delivers Health Kick to Cigarette Vending Machines

Cigarette vending machines will be snuffed out in this St. Paul suburb in 90 days by an ordinance passed by the City Council, a move that one health expert calls the first of its kind in the country.

The measure, passed 4 to 1 Tuesday, calls for the removal of the 19 cigarette vending machines in bars, gas stations, convenience stores and apartment and office buildings in this town of 24,000.

The law was backed by the city Fire Department, several University of Minnesota researchers, the White Bear Lake School Board and a coalition of business leaders.

“We believe White Bear Lake is the first city in the country to ban cigarette vending machines,” Jean Forster, assistant professor of public health at the University of Minnesota, said after the vote.

Council member Bill Bennis, in casting his dissent, said: “Machines are not attacking the real problem. If merchants are sincere about this, they’d take cigarettes out of their place of business.”

A local group called the Tobacco Free Youth Project, whose members have interviewed juvenile smokers, maintains that 93% get their cigarettes from machines.

Eighteen months ago, White Bear Lake police started arresting juveniles caught smoking in public. So far, 155 teen-agers have been arrested and ordered to attend a two-night lecture and discussion session at the White Bear Lake Community Counseling Center.