SOUTH HADLEY — South Hadley this week became the third municipality in Hampshire County to enact a “nicotine-free generation” regulation, which prohibits the sale of nicotine products to anyone born after Jan 1, 2005.
The Board of Health unanimously passed the initiative during its Tuesday, Oct. 14 meeting, joining Belchertown and Pelham. The regulation begins immediately. Northampton and Amherst have considered the policy, but ultimately passed over it.
The nicotine-free generation initiative began five years ago in Brookline as a way to curb youth access to nicotine products and to get in front of any new “novel” creations from the tobacco companies, said Brookline pharmacist Anthony Ishak, one of several from out of town who testified at the South Hadley hearing.
“It’s not legal to sell to youth, but youth acquire the products through their own social networks,” said Katharine Silbaugh, Brookline resident and Boston University professor. “Their social networks are people who are a few years older than they are. By the time you slowly sunset [legal nicotine customers], you are pushing that social network older and older. So a 26 year old to whom the store can sell is not going to spill product to people who are in high school.”
Opponents of the policy say that it limits the freedom of adults who can legally drink alcohol, smoke marijuana and gamble. Peter Brennan, executive director of the New England Convenience Store & Energy Marketers Association, also raised concerns that local convenience stores will take a financial hit if people visit another town to purchase their nicotine products.
“This policy is nothing more than virtue signaling,” Brennan said. “It will impact our small businesses. It will encourage people to go somewhere else, and when they do go somewhere else, they buy an entire basket of goods that they would have gotten at the stores in South Hadley in a neighboring town.”
According to prevention needs assessment survey conducted last spring, 6% of eighth, 10th and 12th graders in South Hadley said they had vaped in the last 30 days. That number increased to 13% when students were asked if they’ve ever vaped. These numbers are higher among seniors alone with 11% saying they’ve vaped in the last 30 days, and 26% having tried it.
Isabel Tashie, a high school senior from Needham, recalls a friend who broke down in the middle of class because she could not go to the bathroom twice to get her nicotine fix. Her friend began using nicotine pouches in middle school to help with anxiety.
“Even though you’d think that some young people would be upset about it, I think the overwhelming youth consensus is that people are for this policy,” Tashie said. “Most of the other high school students in my town are actually grateful because either they themselves or their friends have grown up addicted to these products. It’s inspiring for them to see there is a healthier future coming.”
Belchertown Board of Health member Kenneth Elstein adds that this policy will impact Mount Holyoke College students as well. While students cannot legally buy nicotine products when they first arrive on campus, he said, freshman and sophomores often get the products from their older friends.
“I spoke to a young alum who had just graduated and she said all her friends vape, and probably most of them didn’t when they got into college,” he said. “They get it easily, particularly from their older friends.”
Cambridge Citizens for Smokers Rights member Stephen Helfer noted that the Food and Drug Administration reports that cigarette smoking among youth is at a 25-year low, and e-cigarette use is at a 10-year low.
“You do not protect kids by restricting the future generations of adults,” he said, testifying via Zoom while smoking a tobacco pipe. “That’s not protecting, that’s denying them their autonomy.”
Board of Health Member Karen Pio said the board has compassion for small businesses in South Hadley, and that the policy is “not intended to harm business; this is intended to help youth.” Ishak adds that no Brookline stores have closed since the city passed the regulation five years ago.
The move follows in South Hadley’s tradition of a “bold policy approach to prevention,” said Heather Warner, coordinator of the Collaborative for Educational Services’ Hampshire Franklin Tobacco-Free Community Partnership. South Hadley was the first in the nation to establish a 24/7 prescription drop box, the first in the state to require special training for employees handling alcohol and the only Hampshire County municipality to ban cannabis sales.
In relation to tobacco, the Board of Health was an early adopter of other nicotine regulations like bans on flavored tobacco products and increasing the minimum legal age to purchase nicotine products.
“Neighboring communities are looking to pass comprehensive nicotine regulations but once again they are looking to South Hadley to be that leader,” Warner said.