EASTHAMPTON — A can of Skoal chewing tobacco, pack of vanilla Dutch Masters cigarillos and Vuse Vibe nicotine vapor pen sat on a table in front of the city’s health officials Monday night.
The smell of tobacco drifted through the room during a Board of Health public hearing on regulations that would make the products less accessible to the youth.
The proposed regulations would raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco to 21, limit the sale of flavored tobacco products to adult-only retail stores and cap the number of tobacco permits to the present number of 19. Rules would also prohibit distribution of two or more packaged cigars unless priced at $5 or more.
The public hearing drew about 10 people, most of whom spoke in favor of the proposed changes. The board did not make a decision Monday, and members said they will take into account testimony submitted through July 27. The next hearing is not set.
Health Agent Jackie Duda said she sent copies of the proposed regulations to local distributors of tobacco products, but received little feedback.
Lester Hartman, a pediatrician and a state representative of Tobacco 21, set the tobacco products on the table in front of the health officials. He’s visited about 165 communities in Massachusetts throughout the past five years and at each one he purchases tobacco products to show health officials what can be bought at local stores.
“The adolescent teen brain is most vulnerable to nicotine,” Hartman said, adding that 90 percent of lifetime smokers begin before the age of 18.
The proposed age limit on tobacco products takes the “distributor” out of the high schools because many teens are introduced to cigarettes and vape pens by an older student or peer, Hartman said.
Cheryl Sbarra, director of policy and law from the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards, said flavored tobacco products are marketed toward youth.
“They are marketing aggressively in stores our kids frequent — the convenience stores, the gas stations,” Sbarra said. “Kids go there three times as frequently as adults.”
Dennis Lacourse, a tobacco enforcement officer for Franklin and Hampshire counties, is out every day at stores that sell tobacco products, observing the counter displays and conducting compliance checks. He said the proposed regulation is a “step in the right direction.”
Part of Lacourse’s job is to drive around a teen under 18 and have him or her attempt to purchase tobacco products. He said in towns that have adopted similar regulations limiting sales of flavored tobacco and raising the minimum age to 21, he’s seen a significant reduction in sales to minors.
Ruth Ever from the Easthampton Healthy Youth Coalition also spoke in favor of the measure.
“It’s one of those drugs, if used as directed, it will kill you,” she said.
To contact the Board of Health, send an email to health@easthampton.org or a letter to 50 Payson Ave.
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.