NORTHAMPTON — The city is poised to build on already tough regulations governing the sale of tobacco products if the Board of Health moves ahead with a proposal calling for a generational prohibition of tobacco products.

The idea, which advocates have dubbed a “nicotine-free generation,” would prohibit the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after Jan. 1, 2004, with the intention of preventing anyone now under 21 from every being able to buy tobacco in the city.

The ban would include all forms of tobacco, including nicotine pouches, as companies like Zyn have become increasingly popular. Food and Drug Administration-approved cessation devices, such as gum or patches, would be exempt from the prohibition.

The policy will not affect older smokers and other tobacco users, who are free to continue to buy tobacco. But with each passing year, more people will be banned from buying, even after they turn 21.

At a virtual public hearing on the proposal last week, supporters of the measure that would introduce Northampton to some of the most ambitious anti-tobacco measures in the country said the idea is a long-term approach to lessening nicotine addiction, and would “really encourage the social norm that tobacco is a product that kills,” drawing a parallel between tobacco and lead paint, said Cheryl Sbarra, senior staff attorney and executive director for the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards.

“Just because it will take a long time” to get the desired results of a nicotine-free generation, said Sbarra, “doesn’t mean this is a bad policy.” While expressing concern for people that are addicted, “like my husband,” she celebrates “the fact that my 4- and 6-year-old grandsons can’t purchase tobacco ever in my town.”

The proposal is drawing pushback from local merchants and a statewide organization that represents convenience stores, who say that adults should be able to make their own decisions about whether to use tobacco products. They also question the need for a blanket ban when smoking is on the decline in the United States.

“The Pioneer Valley, and Northampton in particular, also has a long and vibrant history of embracing and celebrating personal freedoms,” Peter Brennan, executive director of the New England Convenience Store & Energy Marketers Association, said in a statement. “Some adults choose to use nicotine in its many forms, for many personal reasons, just as they use alcohol, marijuana, caffeine, etc. The rights and freedoms of adults to make decisions about their individual lives is a key tenet of our democracy and part of what makes our country, state, and municipalities desirable places to live, work and raise families.”

The final draft of the proposed regulation will be presented at the Board of Health’s next meeting on Oct. 17, to be followed by a public hearing and vote by the board at a later date. If passed, the policy would take effect sometime next year.

The policy resembles legislation implemented by Brookline in 2021, where anyone born this century is banned from purchasing tobacco products. Several Massachusetts towns, including Stoneham, Wakefield, Winchester, Malden and Reading, have since passed similar generational bans.

First public hearing

The Board of Health held its first public hearing on the idea on Sept. 19. At that meeting, Sbarra, who calls herself a “tobacco control activist,” argued against those who call tobacco use an “adult choice,” noting that tobacco is “the only consumer product that when used as directed kills you.” Sbarra provides technical support and legal education to the 351 local boards of health in Massachusetts.

“Banning flavored tobacco products, banning smoking in general, capping permits and looking at density issues. You’ve done a lot of really comprehensive work,” she said, praising Northampton for already having some of the strongest tobacco control policies in the nation.

Brennan countered at the same meeting, calling the proposed policy “foolish” and “ridiculous.”

“I think it’s the worst form of virtue signaling to say that we disagree with all nicotine, and we don’t think that anybody is ever going to be old enough to make the choice to do it on their own,” he said, adding that “pretty much every other vice that we can think of,” is currently legal in Massachusetts.

“Our stores are the right place to keep nicotine products,” Brennan said. “We scan IDs. We adhere to the law ... If you want to keep these products out of the hands of the youth, which we all do, then you keep them in stores and require the scanning of IDs.”

Steven Helfer, representing Cambridge Citizens for Smokers Rights, cited the latest statistics in trends on smoking to show that tobacco use is rapidly decreasing in popularity, and said the ban would hurt retailers.

“Recently the CDC released its newest statistics regarding e-cigarette use and tobacco for youth,” Helfer said. “Right now, according to the CDC, fewer than 2% of teenagers smoke regular tobacco. ... According to Gallup, adult smoking is about 11%, which is at an 80-year low.”

He noted that two-thirds of adult smokers end up quitting.

“That’s a 66% quit rate,” he said, “which is a remarkably high rate for a product that is said to be addictive. Given the low smoking rates, both of adults and teenagers, I do not see why Northampton would want to burden its retailers with what amounts to a complete prohibition.”

Meredith O’Leary, Northampton Health and Human Services commissioner, agreed that smoking is less pervasive than it used to be, but she said this is due to increases in the rates of vaping.

“One in five 12th graders reported nicotine use in the past 30 days,” she stated, adding that vape products have also been shown to be more accessible within Northampton than in neighboring communities.

Retailers concern

Northampton retailers of tobacco products shared that their businesses have already experienced losses since the state banned the sale of flavored vapes and menthol cigarettes in 2019, with consumers heading to other states to buy those products.

Dipan Patel, who owns Northampton Marketplace, said tobacco sales have decreased by 50% since flavored vapes were banned — a sentiment felt by many Northampton sellers, some of whom have stopped carrying nicotine products altogether.

“I don’t know what century we are living in,” said Vimal Patel, co-owner of Northampton Smoke Shop on Main Street, and warned about the threat the black market poses for distributing products to minors.

“When people cannot buy the tobacco products it will create a huge black market,” he said, adding that those under 21 currently access products through such a market. That, in turn, will make it easier for minors to access the products.

Vimal Patel added that the new policy would also create an inequality among businesses, since neighboring communities would be able to continue making sales on tobacco products.

“So instead of putting all those regulations, we should focus more on control of the black market,” he said.

Samantha Lamoureux, an employee at Penny Lane on Main Street in Northampton, agreed with this estimation.

“People will just find other ways to get it,” she said. “Especially with the internet now, kids are so smart. They know what they’re doing, they know how to get what they want.”

When asked about the policy proposal, local cosmetologist Emily Ashman shared that despite being a “very health conscious person these days, I think everyone makes their own personal decisions, but it’s also under addiction, so it’s such a mixed bag.”

Despite not wanting to date someone who smokes, get a tattoo from one — or even walk behind one — she still thinks “personal choice” is a component to be considered by the Board of Health moving forward.

She called the potential policy “hypocritical,” since smoking marijuana also can be considered dangerous to health, “and I don’t want that taken away,” she said.

On the other hand, Ben Rowley, shopping in downtown Northampton, cited studies done with rats, which when tested, were able to give up hard drugs like cocaine and heroin, but could not quit nicotine. Having used tobacco in the past, he supports the proposed policy.

“The rats are right,” he said, citing the chemical’s addictive nature.

The next round of discussions will pick up at the Board of Health’s Oct. 17 meeting, set to take place virtually at 5:30 p.m.

Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com.