Earlier this week, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to ban the sale of e-cigarettes within the city. The ordinance is aimed at curbing the epidemic of youth tobacco addiction that has followed the rising popularity of e-cigarettes and vaporizers.
Today, the Chronicle published a story about how Juul, the nation’s leading e-cigarette manufacturer, is already pushing a ballot initiative to overturn the city ordinance. The article quotes ChangeLab Solutions staff attorney Derek Carr:
Derek Carr, an attorney at ChangeLab Solutions, an Oakland-based advocacy group that works to advance policies around health equity, said tobacco companies have long sought ballot initiatives to block local laws that could hurt their profits. “This is not a new tactic or an unexpected one,” Carr said. “It’s really not the role of the tobacco industry to be telling us what’s good for our health and writing our public health laws.”