San Francisco's chief economist has stated that the city's recent decision to ban the sale of e-cigarettes will make more people turn to traditional smoking — which is almost certainly worse for you.
As a piece in Reason notes, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors voted unanimously (!) on June 25 to completely ban the sale of vapes, while continuing to allow the sale of traditional cigarettes.
In an in interview in the San Francisco Chronicle on May 15 (which Reason reported on this week), the economist Ted Egan gave his take on the impact that the legislation will have on San Francisco's economy. As Reason notes, Egan's job is to provide economic analysis of new legislation for the city, which is then sent to the Board of Supervisors and published on the Controller's Office website. If this analysis finds that there will be no impact, then the legislation goes forward without any further research.
