Another freedom has been lost in the state of California in the city of San Francisco who will now dictate what type of business you can operate even though you want to sell a legal product.
Since 2008, the Youth Leadership Institute has worked on creating density controls on tobacco permits in a city that has a huge disparity in permits in poorer areas versus affluent neighbors.
The new law caps the amount of tobacco-selling permits at 45 for each of the 11 districts via a unanimous approval by the Board of Supervisors of the Tobacco Sales Reduction Act.
Currently, no one will be forced out of business and existing permits will be reduced through attrition. Some of the hardest hit communities will be District 6 which currently has 270 permits and District 3 which has 147.
The new ruling also affects the sale of E-Cigarettes in the city of San Francisco who recently passed a law that a tobacco permit was needed for those products.
The new ordinance comes on the heels of an increased effort by the city to work with businesses to sell healthier products via incentives.
San Francisco is home to 837,000 residents over 231.89 square miles and was founded in 1776.
