Whately to Raise Legal Age for Buying Tobacco from 18 to 21

Source from:  GazetteNET 07/06/2015

The Board of Health plans to adopt revisions to its tobacco sales regulations July 15 that would raise the legal age of buying tobacco from 18 to 21.

Chairman Francis Fortino said two residents spoke in favor of the policy during a public hearing Wednesday night.

With the changes, Whately will join Greenfield, Montague, Leverett and Gill in raising the legal age for buying tobacco products from 18 to 21. Whately's revised regulation would also ban flavored tobacco products from being sold anywhere in town except for smoking bars, such as a hookah lounge, or retail tobacco stores.

The town's tobacco regulations already ban the sale of single cigars, roll-your-own machines, blunt wraps, out-of-package cigarette sales and selling tobacco in vending machines, from self-service displays, and in health institutions, educational institutions and stores with pharmacies.

Fortino said the regulations are designed to keep pace with a shift in marketing by tobacco companies in recent years.

"Cigarettes are no longer as popular with their high price tags, and other products have become relatively easy to get with nicotine in them. So, we're moving along with the market to try to address those facts," Fortino said. "By changing the way the regulations read, we could prevent youth from getting into cigarettes and prevent them from dying from a preventable disease." Enditem