WESTMINSTER, Mass. – After last year's failed attempt by the Westminster Board of Health to ban the sale of tobacco products, Massachusetts state lawmakers have begun drafting bills that would prevent other local governments from enacting similar ordinances. A recent hearing of the state's Joint Committee on Public Health saw discussion on several new bills, including one that would prohibit local boards of health from banning the sale of legal tobacco products by retailers that are already allowed to sell them.

Representatives for Rep. Paul K. Frost, who co-sponsored the bill, made it clear that this was direct response to the Westminster Board of Health’s proposed ban on tobacco products last year. One of Frost's main concerns was that the banning of one legal substance could become a slippery slope that would lead to further restrictions on other products.

A second bill would prevent boards of health from banning any legal consumer products, tobacco or otherwise. The bills are currently under review, and no official decision has yet been made. Sources indicate that it could be as long as a year before either bill, if approved by the Legislature and signed by the governor, could become state law.