Hide, Hide, Hide those Cigarettes

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who created such an uproar with his efforts to ban retailers’ sales of large-size soda fountain soft drinks, has proposed legislation to prohibit the display of tobacco products at the store counter.

The proposed law would “prohibit display of tobacco products” in most retail shops, Bloomberg said. “Such displays suggest smoking is a normal activity and invite young people to experiment with tobacco.”

He said it would be the first of its kind in the nation.

A second law would impose new rules to make it harder to sell smuggled cigarettes.

“These laws would protect New Yorkers, especially young and impressionable New Yorkers,” Bloomberg said at a hospital in Queens, adding that a decline in youth smoking has stalled out with about 8 percent of young people lighting up.

The New York Association of Convenience Stores called the proposed ban “absurd.” “I can’t think of another business that is selling legal products that is being forced to hide them from public view,” said association president Jim Calvin. “Businesses have a fundamental right to communicate with customers.”

“Retailers are responsible business people that go to great lengths to prevent sales to minors, and there are First Amendment protections that extend to advertising,” said NACS executive director Tom Briant. “You’re talking about a basic right under the Constitution. If you do this with cigarettes and tobacco products, what else is going to have to be out of view? Wine and spirits? It’s a very slippery slope.”

This week, a New York State Supreme Court justice put a stop to the soda ban, calling it “arbitrary and capricious.” The mayor has said he’ll appeal the judgment.

Earlier in his administration, Bloomberg led the effort to ban smoking from all public indoor spaces. He has also crusaded against salt in restaurant foods and junk food in vending machines and required calorie counts on fast-food menus. He mnaintains that life expectancy in the city is up three years since 2001.