Cigarette billboard ban introduced

Tuesday, May 20, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Noting that 11,000 Nevada youths illegally purchase and smoke 1 million packs of cigarettes annually, the Las Vegas City Council is attacking what it believes is one vital contributor to that alarming statistic.

A City Council committee, composed of Councilmen Arnie Adamsen and Gary Reese, recommended Monday an ordinance that would prohibit billboards from advertising tobacco products near areas where children commonly gather.

"A recent Supreme Court decision has given communities broader regulatory powers" when it comes to billboard cigarette advertising, said Councilman Matthew Callister, who is co-sponsoring the bill with Adamsen.

With Reese, Adamsen and Callister speaking in favor of the measure at the public meeting at City Hall, there is little doubt the bill will pass when it comes before the five-member council in June.

Specifically, the bill proposes to ban billboards within the city limits from displaying all tobacco product advertising within 1,000 feet of a city park, recreational facility, school, child-care center, nursery school, youth arcade or amusement center.

City Attorney Brad Jerbic noted that the Las Vegas bill is based on a recent high court ruling in favor of a similar ordinance that was passed in Baltimore following a lengthy study of tobacco habits of young people.

"One statistic they found was that 3 million youths purchase 947 million packs of cigarettes a year, providing $1 billion in revenues to the tobacco industry," Jerbic told the committee.

"The court found it (the Baltimore ordinance) to be a tolerable infringement on the First Amendment."

Morgan Baumgartner, an attorney for Lionel, Sawyer & Collins representing R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., told the committee that Nevada law prohibits local governments from making such restrictions on tobacco.

She noted that the state "regulates the sale, use, promotion, marketing and distribution of tobacco products" and that "the (city) ordinance is pre-empted by state law."

Jerbic said the state law is silent on billboard advertising of cigarettes.

No representative from the billboard industry showed up to give an opinion on the proposed ordinance. Tobacco opponents, however, did.

"The (billboard advertising) is intended to attract the new (young) customers to replace those who quit ... or die," said Mandy Canales-Salazar, spokeswoman for the local chapter of the American Cancer Society.

Studies show a majority of children decide whether to smoke by age 10 or 11, and that 89 percent of adult smokers started the habit before they turned 18, she said.

A recent survey determined that 61 percent of Clark County stores illegally sold cigarettes to minors, she said.

Mitsi Johnson of the Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition said billboard advertising is strategically placed to appeal to youngsters.

She noted that her daughter attends Knudson Middle School, where nearby a large billboard showed a rather young female -- "she looked well under 18" -- holding Misty brand cigarettes. She received no response to letters of protest, but the ad eventually was removed.

"The marketing gets to kids," Johnson said.

Reese commented that with the information available today on the dangers of cigarettes, he cannot understand why children choose to start smoking.

Adamsen noted that billboard ads featuring cute cartoon characters such as Joe Camel "deliberately" target potential young smokers.