NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton Board of Health is considering passing the “Nicotine Free Generation” ordinance, which would ban any tobacco sales in the city to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2004.
The aim of a policy such as this is to prevent future generations from the devastating harm caused by tobacco products.
“Big tobacco is always one step ahead of us, and I feel like we fight this battle every year and a half to two years where we have to amend our regulation, said Northampton Department of Health and Human Services Director Merridith O’Leary during the Board of Health’s Sept. 19 meeting. “I think the end goal … [is] that we get to be tobacco free.”
During the Sept. 19 regular meeting, the Board of Health welcomed Cheryl Sbarra, the executive director and senior staff attorney of the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards, to talk about an updated policy that the Northampton Board of Health can adopt.
This updated template includes the nicotine-free generation clause as well as another regulation that would restrict the sale of oral nicotine pouches like Zyn to adult-only retail tobacco stores.
“We’re saying restrict them to adult-only stores until we get more evidence on the health effects,” Sbarra said, regarding the pouches. “But at least get them away from the youth that are purchasing them. These products are so popular that you cannot find them in some convenience stores because they can’t manufacture them fast enough.”
The nicotine-free generation template is similar to a policy that was upheld by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for the town of Brookline, which enacted its own “Tobacco-Free Generation” bylaw that restricted convenience store owners from selling tobacco products to individuals born on or after Jan. 1, 2000.
During the Sept. 19 meeting, O’Leary mentioned how Northampton is in a shared service agreement with 14 surrounding sister communities to collaboratively work on regulations that prevent harms perpetrated by tobacco products.
Although each of these communities have their own autonomy in the decision-making process, O’Leary said there is a “great synergy” among these communities.
“They, again, get to have the authority like you board of health members do to pass or not pass, amend or not amend the regulation,” O’Leary said. “But there is great synergy amongst the communities that we serve.”
Despite interest from the Board of Health in passing the nicotine-free generation bylaw, there has been some opposition to enacting such a regulation, particularly from the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association.
The organization, which represents thousands of convenience stores across New England, released a statement and reasons why they are against the nicotine-free generation bylaw and the restriction of the sale of pouches, arguing that the law would create an illicit market and does nothing to address under-age youth use of nicotine and tobacco products.
“Removing nicotine pouches from gas stations and convenience stores in Northampton will create a substantial hardship on adult nicotine users,” NECSEMA said in a statement. “Oral nicotine pouches are considered less risky products than many other tobacco products, and consumers are adopting them to replace, in whole or in part, their use of these other products higher on that continuum of risk recognized by the FDA. Discouraging nicotine pouch use by removing them from most retailers frustrates this movement from higher risk to lower risk tobacco and nicotine products.”
NECSEMA Executive Peter Brennan released a separate statement arguing that allowing adults to make decisions about their own lives is a “key tenet to our democracy.” He argued that a policy such as a generational ban of nicotine products “tramples on civil liberties.”
He added that eliminating youth access to age-restricted products is a goal retailers share with health officials, and by regulating tobacco products in this way, health officials would decrease the value of businesses.
“The moment a municipality enacts a generational ban on the sale of nicotine products, the value of businesses with a license to sell nicotine products will be destroyed,” Brennan. “Our retailers should be viewed as your partner in youth tobacco control, not the enemy.”
Sbarra, however, argued that using a tobacco product is not a choice but an addiction for most adults.
“Tobacco is the only consumer product that when used as directive kills you,” Sbarra said. “My husband is 74 years old and has been smoking forever. If you ask him whether it’s a choice, he will say ‘no, it’s an addiction. I can’t stop smoking.’”
Sbarra commended Northampton for already using “evidence-based policies” to curb tobacco use like prohibiting the sale of flavor tobacco products, banning smoking in general, capping permits and looking at density issues.
She said the nicotine-free generation bylaw would be a major step in ending tobacco use altogether.
“I live in a town that passed this policy,” Sbarra said. “The fact that my four-year-old and six-year-old grandson can’t purchase tobacco ever in my town, or quite frankly in theirs because their town passed it too, makes me really happy.”
“I think most people would really like to see the end of tobacco use,” she continued. “And this policy, although it will take a long time, is geared toward getting to that end.”
The Board of Health plans to have a hearing on the restriction of nicotine pouches to adult-only establishments next month.
As for the nicotine-free generation policy, the board expects to have hearings on that in the future, with a goal of enacting the bylaw sometime in 2025 so residents and businesses can have time to get acclimated to it.
