NORTHAMPTON — In an ongoing effort to curb tobacco use by youth, the city is mulling the idea of joining more than 130 Massachusetts towns and cities in raising the age to purchase tobacco products to 21. The current age limit is 18 and over.
The move would be similar to one approved by the state Senate earlier this spring, though that bill has yet to pass the House.
Northampton’s Board of Health will take public comment on its proposal at a hearing on Sept. 15, at 5:30 p.m., in City Hall.
The proposed measure would also ban the sale of flavored tobacco products except at licensed tobacconist shops, part of the Board of Health’s effort to further curb use by youth. The city currently has one business, Glassology Inc., permitted as a tobacconist shop.
The 26 convenience store and other businesses with a lesser permit, the Tobacco and Nicotine Delivery Product Sales Permit, will still be allowed to sell e-cigarettes and vapes, but without the sweet flavorings and colorful packaging that health officials say is targeting children.
“Big tobacco actually markets them for that age group,” said Merridith O’Leary, Northampton’s director of public health. The goal of reducing the number of places where those products can be sold, she said, is “to get them out of the eyesight of adolescents.”
O’Leary emphasized that smokers often start young, which can lead to severe health problems later in life. Youth, she says, are also especially susceptible to the sweet-flavored products that are currently widely available.
Northampton has already passed some regulations limiting tobacco use, mostly restricting areas where smoking is allowed. Parks and outdoor restaurants, for example, are on the list of places where smokers cannot light up within 25 feet. But the proposed measure would be a major step in the effort to reduce the use of tobacco in the city, O’Leary said.
The towns of Amherst and South Hadley passed similar measures to Northampton’s proposal last summer. The Amherst law raised the tobacco age to 21 in August 2015, citing similar reasons to the Northampton proposal. However, the law left flavored tobacco and vaping untouched.
UMass Amherst has entirely banned the use of tobacco on its campus and has instituted a campaign with the slogan “let’s clear the air.”
The statewide measure is being opposed Rep. Don Humason, R-Westfield, who has said that people should be able to make their own decisions. Another Republican, Rep. Ryan Fattman, R-Webster.
If passed, Northampton’s proposed law would take effect in January to give businesses time to adjust, O’Leary said. But she emphasized that the board will do “anything we can do” to keep young kids from smoking.
“The board doesn’t take these things lightly,” she said. “Public health is the board’s primary concern.”