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-Land of the Free
Massachusetts Town Weighs Nation's 1st Tobacco Ban
2014-11-10
[HOSTED.AP.ORG] The cartons of Marlboros, cans of Skoal and packs of Swisher Sweets are hard to miss stacked near the entrance of Vincent's Country Store, but maybe not for much longer: All tobacco products could become contraband if local health officials get their way.

This sleepy central Massachusetts town of 7,700 has become an improbable battleground in America's tobacco wars. On Wednesday, the Board of Health will hear public comment on a proposed regulation that could make Westminster the first municipality in the United States to ban sales of all tobacco products within town lines.

"To my knowledge, it would be the first in the nation to enact a total ban," said Thomas Carr, director of national policy at the American Lung Association. "We commend the town for doing it."
Posted by:Fred

#7  What about the fact that adults do not need the government too tell them everything they can ingest into their body.
Posted by: chris   2014-11-10 15:59  

#6  tw, I don't think they are banning the possession of tobacco (yet). They are just banning the sale of tobacco in town. This would have some effect in a large city like New York, where it is difficult to get out of town. In a small town, people will just drive the two miles to get tobacco.

The reason cops track out of state liquor purchases is that the state loses revenue.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia   2014-11-10 12:06  

#5  In other words, the gas stations just outside the town's borders are going to be doing gangbuster business. Has the town government considered the cost of hiring extra police to sit outside the parking lots, waiting to follow home those who bought cigarettes there to see if they are township residents engaging in the smuggling of contraband? Here in Cincinnati people go just across the river to Kentucky to buy alcohol and such, but they're easy enough to pick out by the state license plate; in Massachusetts the police won't have that simple cue, and there are lots of things to buy at gas stations other than cigarettes.
Posted by: trailing wife   2014-11-10 11:56  

#4  Try enforcing the bans on heroin and meth first.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2014-11-10 11:19  

#3  According to my pulmonologist, the problem with cigarettes is the combustion products, not the nicotine. So there is no real reason to ban the e-cigs, except to assert power.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia   2014-11-10 09:23  

#2  ...and outlaw e-cigs that use water vapor to deliver nicotine. The New Puritanism (guess from who?).
Posted by: Procopius2k   2014-11-10 08:41  

#1  So then the turn around and legalize smoking pot?
Posted by: 3dc   2014-11-10 08:27  

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