The sale at retail of flavoured tobacco, including menthol cigarettes, will be banned in the city of Richmond, California after the Council voted in favour of the ban and other restrictions on retail sales, the Richmond Standard reported.

The changes to the local Tobacco Retailer License Ordinance are effective within Richmond city limits and will take effect in 9 months, with retailers having been given this period to comply.
The National Association of Tobacco Outlets had proposed to the city in June that the sale of menthol and other flavoured tobacco products be limited for new retailers and that existing retailers be “grandfathered in”, the newspaper said. Retailers had argued that small businesses would be effected by the ordinance and that consumers would buy the products from other sources. “We don’t think this ban would help our neighbours quit the bad habit of smoking. It shifts income from certain businesses and gives it to other businesses that are not impacted by this law,” retailer Abdul Talib was quoted as saying.
In the city limits, the sale of cigars and cigarillos in packs containing fewer than 20 sticks will also be banned and the ordinance also prohibits tobacco retailers from operating within 1000 feet of schools, libraries, parks and playgrounds, and within 500 feet of other tobacco retailers, the newspaper reported.