A press release from the office of New York City Mayor Bloomberg announces:
The "Tobacco Product Display Restriction" bill would make New York City the first in the nation to keep tobacco products out of sight in retail stores, with the goal of further reducing the youth smoking rateā¦. Under the new legislation, sellers would be required to keep tobacco products out of sight, except during a purchase by an adult consumer or during restocking: tobacco products would be required to be kept in cabinets, drawers, under the counter, behind a curtain or in any other concealed location. The Tobacco Product Display Restriction bill prohibits the display of tobacco products to protect children from the marketing of cigarettes through their display at retail counters. The bill would require that tobacco products be stored out of public view, except during a purchase by an adult consumer or restocking and allow tobacco products to be kept in cabinets, drawers, under the counter, behind a curtain or in any other concealed location. Retail stores may advertise and communicate tobacco product and price information to consumers.
These displays are often found in stores at the point-of-sale, and studies show they increase the likelihood that youth will experiment with tobacco products and become addicted. While New York City would be the first in the nation to do this, prohibitions began to be implemented in Iceland in 2001 and Canada in 2005, and these countries have already seen substantial declines in youth smoking. Other countries, including Norway, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and England, implemented product display restrictions more recently.
In 2011, 28,000 NYC public high school students tried smoking for the first time and 19,000 NYC public high school students under the age of 18 smoked. Youth who are frequently exposed to tobacco product displays are 2.5 times more likely to initiate smoking than youth who have less exposure.
Next think you know, he'll be wanting them to keep the Coca-Cola products behind a curtain, too. This is New York City in 2013, where they hand out free condoms to ninth graders in the public schools, but require the corner stores to keep cigarette packages out of the view of the same kids.