iStock(BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.) — The City Council of Beverly Hills, California, voted unanimously on Tuesday to ban almost all sales of tobacco products, beginning in 2021.
Cigarettes, cigars and e-cigarettes will no longer be sold at gas stations, pharmacies, convenience stores or by grocers, according to official reports.
Exempted from the ban are hotels and three cigar lounges in the tiny Los Angeles suburb. The ban is the first of its kind in the U.S.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 249 billion cigarettes were sold in the U.S. in 2017, a 3.5% decrease from 2016. About 12 billion cigars were sold in 2015.
Illnesses related to smoking incur costs of more than $300 billion annually, according to the CDC. About $170 billion is spent on direct medical care, with approximately $156 billion lost in productivity — including $5.6 billion solely because of second-hand smoke.
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