California IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : City Council Bans Cigarette Machines

The Sacramento City Council outlawed cigarette vending machines to make it harder for minors to buy tobacco. The new law takes effect Jan. 2. Vending machine owners will have 90 days after that to remove their dispensers. The council rejected a compromise proposed by vending machine owners that would have allowed the devices at adult work sites that are closed to the public and in places where minors are prohibited. An attorney for vending machine operators said layoffs would result, but Mayor Anne Rudin said jobs were not at issue. “Today’s young smokers are tomorrow’s adult addicts,” Carol Stoughton of the American Lung Assn. told the council. “Cigarette vending machines are one of their sources.”