cigarettes

The City Council’s Programs and Services has approved an ordinance amendment that—if it passes a vote by the whole City Council—will ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after March 1, 2004, and in perpetuity.

“I think we all know at this point that smoking is the leading cause of preventable death,” Councilor Susan Albright said at Thursday night’s committee meeting. “And the CDC says that 480 deaths happen each year because of smoking. And I don’t think there’s much disagreement about the fact that smoking is a harmful and addictive habit.”

The vote was 5 to 2. Not everyone was in agreement about what to do about smoking, however.

“I’m not a tobacco user, and in fact I’m allergic to tobacco smoke,” Newton Corner resident Steve Snider said. “But I’m more allergic to government infringing on the rights of legal adults making informed choices about legal products.”

Both Stoneham and Wakefield passed similar bylaws last spring, and Melrose passed a similar ordinance last month.

Boston University Law Professor Kate Silbaugh, who cosponsored the petition that led to the bylaw change in Brookline, celebrated the idea of having that town’s neighbor to the west in the Tobacco-Free Generation movement.

“We have 12 jurisdictions that have started, and we would absolutely love to have Newton be the first that did it through politically elected figures,” Silbaugh said. “That would be a real breakthrough.”

Newton Corner resident Janet Sterman did not hold back her anger at the proposal and at Albright for bringing it to the table.
“Susan Albright, you have done a wonderful job in all your years in service working for the city of Newton working as an elected official, but you have now evidenced the fact that you are ready to retire and move on,” Sterman said. “This is so unbelievably absurd overreach in personal on legal products it is beyond comprehension.”

Albright countered the choice argument by pointing out other ways governments regulate adult behavior, with things like asbestos bans and seatbelts.

“Once you’re addicted to nicotine, you don’t have the free will anymore,” Albright said.

Councilor Bill Humphrey said the amendment would also help cut down on the number of underaged kids getting tobacco from their slightly older friends.

“The goal here is to keep pushing that group of people further and further away from the high school-aged and middle school-aged demographics, so that it’s harder for them to get a hold of nicotine products and start that habit,” Humphrey said “Even this change itself is not really about the legal purchasers. So it’s not about that issue of free choice and everything for adults.”

Councilor David Micley was one of the two committee votes against the item. Micley called for more effort to keep tobacco away from young people but said the proposed ordinance change takes away a choice from adults.

“It is taking away a freedom that currently exists, from 40-year-olds, from 50-year-olds, from 60-year-olds—and certainly there are instances where it is appropriate to do that, but our power to limit is not limitless,” Micley said.

The other “no” vote was from Councilor Stephen Farrell, a former smoker who acknowledged that it’s hard to quit tobacco.

“The problem of this is, let’s say I’m 18 years old, I was born Jan. 1, 2006, and in seven years I decide I want to smoke cigarettes in Newton and I can’t,” Farrell said. “That’s insane to me. How can you tell me as an adult that I don’t have a right to smoke cigarettes?”

The item now heads to the full City Council for a vote.

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