Lexington is considering enacting a generational ban on nicotine products so future generations will not have access to the harmfully addictive substance, a decision that follows in the footsteps of several Massachusetts communities.
If passed, the “nicotine-free generation” measure would ban anyone born after Jan. 1, 2004, from ever buying nicotine products, such as cigarettes, pouches, or vape pens, in Lexington. Smoking and other use of tobacco products is the leading preventable cause of death in the country, according to the American Cancer Society.
“This is a policy that not only will stop that cycle of nicotine dependency…it will protect that next generation immediately,” said Mark Gottlieb, executive director of the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University’s School of Law, during the town’s Board of Health meeting on Sept. 17.
Brookline was the first community in the country to add a generational ban to its bylaws in 2020, when it barred the sale of tobacco or e-cigarettes to anyone born after Jan. 1, 2000. The state Supreme Judicial Court affirmed that ban in March, which now makes it so that cities and towns across the state can follow in Brookline’s lead. And that they have.
Since the state’s affirmation of Brookline’s ban a few months ago, several other Massachusetts communities, including Melrose, Wakefield, Stoneham, Malden, Reading and Winchester, have adopted policies similar to Brookline’s. And now, Lexington and Medford are considering jumping on the anti-nicotine bandwagon, too.
Local lobbyists, business owners, and residents of neighboring communities voiced their opinions of the ordinance to Lexington’s Board of Health during a listening session it held during its meeting last week. Few Lexington residents offered opinions during the meeting.
“It’s total prohibition,” Stephen Helfer, member of Cambridge Citizens for Smokers’ Rights, said during the meeting. “They’re not talking about protecting people, they’re talking about prohibiting people.”
Peter Brennan, executive director of The New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association, shared Helfer’s concern that banning sales of the product would restrict adult choice during the meeting, stating, “it is an adult’s right to enjoy a product that others frown upon.” Brennan was also concerned that the ordinance will significantly hurt local retailers’ business.
“It does not make any sense to me…it harms our stores,” he said during the meeting. “If you can’t purchase one product you’re looking for at a store in Lexington…then you’ll purchase all of your products at other stores.”
But according to Katharine Silbaugh, co-sponsor of the ordinance in Brookline, Brennan’s concern does not reflect Brookline’s reality, where the ban has been in place for over three years.
“All of the Brookline retailers have remained open after three years of the ordinance,” she said during the meeting. “At the time they said they couldn’t survive and all of them have.”
No vote was taken at Lexington’s Board of Health meeting last week, and there is no date set to take a vote on the policy in the future.
“We’re in the position now where we can take some steps…to actually end this cycle of addiction and illness and disease that are associated and caused by nicotine and tobacco products,” Gottlieb said.