An growing variety of communities are standing as much as bureaucratic charades disguised as public well being and saying no to closed-door, blatantly un-democratic maneuvers designed to strip away civil liberties. Stoughton ought to do the identical when the board of well being meets on Thursday to contemplate a generational nicotine ban.
Ashland and Westminster are the newest communities to reject misguided makes an attempt by native well being boards to impose “nicotine-free era” bylaws, which might ban tobacco and nicotine merchandise for anybody born after Jan. 1, 2006. We assist communities in search of to scale back smoking and shield youth from shopping for nicotine, however some cities are utilizing bait-and-switch techniques that trample on democracy and search to do an end-run round federal rules. Not solely ought to we not settle for such legislative overreach, we must always struggle again to verify precedents aren’t set that would create civil liberty setbacks for generations.
Officers in these cities had been proper after they not too long ago refused to maneuver ahead with NFG proposals, not solely as a result of the coverage is flawed, however as a result of they acknowledged they may not permit native boards of well being to be co-opted by well-funded activists in search of to use and manipulate the system and ram via agenda-driven insurance policies with out debate.
At a time when authorities transparency and accountability is being demanded increasingly more, it’s refreshing to see communities shield grownup rights and the democratic course of. Stifling public debate is at all times improper. Democracy, as they are saying, dies in darkness.
The extra individuals be taught concerning the deceptively named Nicotine Free Era legislation, the much less they prefer it. The listing of communities rejecting NFG is rising, and now contains Bellingham, Worcester, Peabody, Milton, Franklin, Medfield, Lynnfield and Westfield. The very fact is, voters are uninterested in nanny state insurance policies and lawmakers legislating their model of morality, whereas taking questionable actions that hurt small companies, strip away tax {dollars} and increase alternatives for criminals to promote unregulated merchandise on the streets and the web.
When public officers take the time to be taught the info, they’re seeing that this can be a highly-flawed coverage that creates extra issues than it solves. NFG does nothing to curb smoking or cease youth smoking and exemplifies authorities overreach at its most egregious. Different communities contemplating these absurd insurance policies – together with Stoughton – could be smart to reexamine them and put assets into training and consciousness slightly than impose silly bans that don’t work.
These misguided prohibitions make for good fear-mongering soundbites however don’t have any affect on smoking charges and serve solely to unfairly goal adults in search of to buy authorized, federally-regulated merchandise. The federal authorities set the age of buy at 21 for tobacco and nicotine, as it’s with playing, hashish and alcohol, for a cause: as a result of it’s accepted that adults are free to decide on to buy authorized merchandise, even when they might include threat.
It’s discriminatory and a violation of civil liberties to arbitrarily set prohibition dates to dam future generations from with the ability to purchase these authorized merchandise. Worse, it received’t work. Individuals topic to those native bans will merely flip to neighboring communities and states, or worse, the web, to purchase their chosen merchandise.
Maintaining nicotine and tobacco merchandise in regulated, licensed shops, the place IDs are checked and authorized compliance is excessive, protects shoppers from buying harmful, uninspected merchandise. The tobacco taste ban in place in Massachusetts since 2020 has had no affect on smoking charges, however has stripped away a whole lot of thousands and thousands in tax {dollars} which have merely shifted to New Hampshire, Rhode Island and different neighboring states. These are very important tax {dollars} that would have been used for consciousness and prevention efforts.
It’s ironic that some communities are in search of to avoid public discourse to strip away grownup rights, particularly when contemplating that Massachusetts has traditionally been on the forefront of defending rights and liberties. Massachusetts has legalized hashish and sports activities playing, expanded the provision of alcohol licenses, funded free hypodermic needle packages and is consistently pursuing different “hurt discount” insurance policies for exhausting medication. But on tobacco and nicotine, some need to transfer Massachusetts in the other way.
Elected officers aren’t supposed to choose winners and losers. They’re imagined to be the stewards of freedom – not gatekeepers of subjective morality. If cities like Ashland and Westminster merely rolled over, boards of well being could be free to not solely ban tobacco, but additionally playing, hashish and alcohol, and possibly sooner or later caffeine, sugary drinks and fried meals, in the event that they really feel public well being is in danger. The place does it finish?
Kudos to each cities for stopping the insanity. Stoughton ought to comply with go well with and put a cease to backroom offers and authorities overstep earlier than it’s too late.
Peter Brennan is the Government Director of the New England Comfort Retailer and Vitality Entrepreneurs Affiliation
