The Healdsburg City Council has suspended a landmark ordinance banning tobacco sales to anyone under the age of 21. The decision, reached to avoid a costly legal battle with tobacco companies, comes less than three months after Healdsburg became the first city in California to do so.
The ordinance was approved last fall and took effect in July of this year. Soon thereafter, the city received threats of a possible legal challenge from the National Association of Tobacco Outlets. Those same threats have dogged Santa Clara County, which raised the smoking age earlier this year, as well as the City of Berkeley, which is considering a similar ordinance of its own.
Healdsburg officials say the city isn’t strong enough to wrangle such a massive legal challenge on its own. This week, Healdsburg’s police chief began handing out notices to 14 retailers notifying them of their right to sell tobacco to those 18 and over.
So much for that.
Read more about the city council’s reversal here.
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