Senate bill would raise tobacco purchase age, address e-cigarettes

A bill that aims to reduce youth addiction to both traditional tobacco products and vaporized nicotine products, such as e-cigarettes, has reached the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
 
S. 2152 would raise the statewide minimum legal sales age for tobacco products from 18 to 21, though the bill would allow residents who are 18 at the time of the bill’s effective date to be exempted from the higher sales age.
 
Currently, 102 cities and towns, representing nearly half of the state’s population, have raised their minimum legal sales age to 21. The town of Needham was the first in the nation to do so, in 2005.
 
Hawaii raised its minimum age to 21 effective this past January, and the California Legislature has approved a similar measure, which awaits a decision by Gov. Jerry Brown.
 
The Senate bill also seeks to reduce exposure to the vapor exhaled by e-cigarette users in public places and workplaces.
 
The bill incorporates elements of a regulation recently expanded by Attorney General Maura Healey that places conditions on stores that sell e-cigarettes, associated hardware and the nicotine solutions used for vaporization. One included policy extends the current ban on sales to minors to include e-cigarettes and other similar vaporized products.
 
Nearly 200 Massachusetts cities and towns currently prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes to minors.
 
More than 200 cities and towns have banned the sale of tobacco products in vending machines, another requirement of the Senate bill. Health care institutions, including pharmacies, would need to stop selling both traditional tobacco products and e-cigarettes. Boston, Worcester and Springfield are among the 134 cities and towns that have enacted similar local measures (affecting more than 60 percent of the state’s residents). CVS, Target and Wegmans all have corporate policies to not sell tobacco products.
 
The Senate bill would extend the ban on smoking in workplaces and public places to include e-cigarettes and similar “vaping” products. Some 111 municipalities (49 percent of the state’s population) have enacted a prohibition on the use of e-cigarettes in locations where traditional smoking is currently banned.
 
A number of state laws ban traditional tobacco smoking in some locations in certain educational institutions. The Senate bill would ban all tobacco use and vaping in private and public schools – in buildings, on grounds, on student transportation, and at school-sponsored events.
 
For more information about S. 2152, contact D.J. Wilson at the MMA