MILFORD, Mass. - Several
more municipalities in Massachusetts have approved or are thinking of approving
bans on tobacco products in drug stores, the MetroWest Daily News reports. So far, the boards of health in
Wellesley and Southborough have passed tobacco bans for drug stores and grocery
stores that have pharmacies.
Towns considering similar
bans include Westborough, Shrewsbury, Northborough and Milford, according to
the Central Massachusetts Tobacco Free Committee Partnership, which is pushing
for drugstore tobacco bans as a way to halt smoking in youths. "Pharmacies are
supposed to be promoting healthy products," said Tina Grosowsky, project
coordinator for the partnership.
"We don??t want health care
institutions promoting a product that kills people," said Southborough Board of
Health Chairman Louis Fazen of the ban approved in 2010. "No one who??s involved
in health care should be a purveyor of our No. 1 enemy."
In Uxbridge, enough
citizens opposed the ban that the city??s board of health rescinded it, said
Peter Baghdasarian, a member of the board of health who opposed the ban. "I
absolutely detest smoking," he said. "Back when they had smoking in
restaurants, I wouldn??t sit at a table with an ashtray. However, it was my
choice."
However, a ban on which
stores can sell tobacco products has " no logical ending point," he said. "You
can say government should dictate when and how we eat."