WESTMINSTER, Mass. – The town of Westminster in central Massachusetts would become the first community in the state, and perhaps the nation, to ban all tobacco sales. According to the proposal, made public earlier this week, sales of products containing tobacco or nicotine, including cigarettes, chewing tobacco and even electronic cigarettes, would be prohibited.

Not surprisingly, the plan has infuriated local store owners, who are circulating petitions to block the action, saying it’s unfair to ban sales of a legal product. They also have expressed concern that ban would drive them out of business and simply send people to nearby communities for their tobacco products.

“Where do you draw the line, a candy ban because it causes diabetes? Are we going to ban bacon because it causes [high] cholesterol? It seems like a slippery slope,” Brian Vincent, owner of Vincent’s Country Store, told the Boston Globe, in a recent article.

According to Vincent, one of seven licensed tobacco retailers in Westminster, tobacco products account for about 6% of his sales, and his concern is not just the loss of those sales, but other items people buy when getting cigarettes.

According to the Boston Globe, more than 100 Massachusetts communities have expanded their tobacco control rules to include bans on the sale of electronic cigarettes and other nicotine delivery products to minors, but Westminster would be the first community to propose a sweeping prohibition on the sale of tobacco products to anyone, regardless of age.

In Westminster, as in many Massachusetts communities, the local health board regulates tobacco sales and issues permits allowing its sale. The board will listen to residents’ concerns about the proposal at a public hearing scheduled for November 12. In order for the proposal to be enacted, the town’s three-member Board of Health has to take a vote to approve the ban.