Bill Introduced to Ban Tobacco Coupons in NY

A bill was proposed last week to prohibit discount coupons for tobacco products.

On Friday February 17th, sponsored by Sen. David Carlucci, D-Clarkstown, Rockland County, and Assemblywoman Shelley Mayer, D-Yonkers, a public health bill was proposed to "amend the public health law, in relation to prohibiting the use of coupons or use of a "price reduction instrument" to lower the price of certain tobacco products."  This includes tobacco and e-cigarette products, but doesn't effect purchases of nicotine chewing gum.

The bill reasons that:

Tobacco use is a leading cause of preventable premature death in the United States and the State of New York. Given the substantial human and economic costs associated with tobacco use, New York State has taken numerous steps to reduce tobacco use among adults and to stop persons under the age of eighteen from starting to use cigarettes, e-cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Even after making several attempts to slow the use of tobacco products, they've still seen an increase in the number of tobacco users. This bill was first introduced in 2014 and according to the bill in 2014 overall rates for tobacco use among Americans were "24.6 percent for high school students and nearly 8 percent for middle school students."

WGRZ.com reports that if the bill gets passed, stores that violate the coupon ban could face up to $5,000 in fines.