Cigarettes are getting harder to find. More retail chains are dropping them, and for the first time, officials in a few states want to ban pharmacies from selling them. This month, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom proposed an unprecedented city ban on drugstores selling tobacco products, including cigars, pipes and smokeless tobacco. "This will be the beginning of a national movement," Newson predicts. He says he's "absolutely confident" the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will approve the ban this month or early in June. It would take effect Oct. 1. Others are on the same track. Bills are pending in New Hampshire, Illinois and Tennessee to bar pharmacies with walk-in clinics from selling tobacco, and a bill in New York would apply to all pharmacies, including those in big stores such as Wal-Mart. "Pharmacies are places we go to get healthy," says Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, author of the New York proposal. "It just seems inappropriate that on the other hand, they sell something that kills." His state borders Canada, where most provinces don't let pharmacies sell tobacco. Most independent pharmacies in the USA no longer sell tobacco, but the drugstore market is dominated by big chains such as Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid that do. Target stopped selling tobacco products in 1996. Bill Phelps, spokesman for Philip Morris USA, the nation's No. 1 cigarette maker, says the government should not impose bans. "We think retailers should be able to decide," he says. More retailers are deciding not to sell tobacco products. A wave of grocery stores, some with pharmacies and some without, have taken tobacco off their shelves. Wegmans, which has 70 stores in five states, did so in February, the same month as two smaller New York-based chains, Budwey's and DeCicco Family Markets. San Francisco-based Andronico's also quit in February, and some ShopRites followed in March. "We're seeing a real trend in which fewer and fewer stores want to be associated with the harm caused by cigarettes," says Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. As fewer stores sell cigarettes, he says, "the cultural norm becomes not smoking." That doesn't necessarily happen, says Gary Nolan, national spokesman for Citizens Freedom Alliance, a group that defends smokers rights and the free market. Smokers won't stop but will be driven to a black market run by smugglers, he says. Wegmans found cigarettes profitable and expected negative reaction from customers when it dropped them, spokeswoman Jo Natale says. She says there were a few complaints but far more support.