WESTWOOD, Mass. - The
Board of Health in Westwood is pushing the minimum wage to buy tobacco products
up to 19, the Boston Globe reports.
The new rules also prohibit
the sales of blunt wraps and commercial RYO cigarette machines, and the permit
fee for vendors is increasing to $400. E-cigarettes will be included under the
tightened regulations.
"Up until now, most
communities only regulated tobacco products," said Linda Shea, the city??s
director of health. Spurring the move was concern that minors would be
attracted to flavored tobacco products wrapped in colorful, attractive
packaging.
Retailers are the ones who
suffer when individual towns make decisions such as changing the minimum age
for tobacco purchases. "What??s to stop someone from going over the border to
get cigarettes in another town?" asked Jeff Lenard, NACS spokesman. "If you
think you can outsmart an 18-year-old, you don??t have kids. The law also has
the ability to hurt retailers, and, ultimately, the tax base."
The city??s new regulations
begin April 1, with retailers having until June 1 to comply. Meanwhile, Dr.
Lester Hartman, a pediatrician, is pushing other Massachusetts localities,
including Walpole and Sharon, to increase the legal smoking age to 21. Hartman
said he views the Westwood decision to raise the minimum age to 19 as a
"victory."
Other municipalities in
the state with a higher minimum age for purchasing tobacco products include
Arlington, Belmont, Needham and Watertown. Hartman is working with other groups
to pressure the state to change the legal age to buy tobacco products to 21.
In 46 states, plus the
Washington, D.C., the minimum smoking age is 18. Utah, New Jersey, Alaska and
Alabama have a minimum smoking age of 19.