BOSTON — A few politicians in Massachusetts are trying to get their colleagues to back a plan that would make the state the first to ban tobacco products to get rid of them over time.
Similar “generational tobacco bans” have been considered in other places. These bans stop people from using tobacco based on their birth year as well as their age.
Mass. passed a rule in 2018 that raised the age to 21 for buying any tobacco product, such as cigarettes, cigars, and e-cigarettes. In an attempt to keep kids from becoming interested in nicotine, Massachusetts has also banned the sale of all flavored tobacco products.
Lawmakers plan to introduce a new plan next year that would take the fight against smoking to a bigger level by slowly banning all sales of nicotine and tobacco products. If the bill passes, young people in Massachusetts who aren’t old enough to legally buy nicotine and tobacco will never be able to do so. This means that no more new users will be created.
It would not apply to marijuana, and the deadline would be pushed back to make sure that no one over the age of 21 would be impacted.
The first town to ban smoking for all ages
Brookline, a town of about 63,000 people next to Boston, was the first city or town in the country to ban this in 2020. The law doesn’t raise the age to buy smokes; instead, it stops anyone born on or after January 1, 2000, from buying tobacco. In 2021, the rule became law.
In the future, no one would be able to buy tobacco goods in the town because of that. The law was contested, but earlier this year, the state’s top court ruled in favor of the ban.
Some Massachusetts cities and towns, like Malden, Melrose, Reading, Stoneham, Wakefield, and Winchester, have already banned tobacco in the same way.
Support levels that aren’t clear
One supporter of the national plan, Democratic state Sen. Jason Lewis, said the bill would “save countless lives and make the world a healthier place for the next generation.”
“We all know that nicotine and tobacco products are very bad for your health, especially for young people,” he said.
Tobacco and nicotine products can make you more likely to get lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, and other illnesses.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that almost nine out of ten people who smoke cigarettes every day started doing it before they turned 18. The same group also found that in 2024, about two out of five students who had ever used a tobacco product were still doing it.
The head of the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association, Peter Brennan, said that the plan would hurt small mom-and-pop shops that depend on selling cigarettes for a big part of their income.
Also, stores near states that let all adults buy cigarettes would be at a disadvantage when competing with those shops.
He said, “That’s a terrible idea.” “All you’re doing is making it illegal for adults to buy a product that is only for people of a certain age.”
He said that taking away some adults’ rights while leaving others alone would probably be against the Constitution. He also said that other attempts to ban things haven’t worked in the past, like attempts to ban booze, marijuana, and gambling.
The plan doesn’t seem to have much support in the Legislature.
In the last few decades, Massachusetts has taken other steps to try to stop people from smoking, such as raising taxes on cigarettes. A gradual statewide smoking ban would probably lower those costs and get rid of them altogether.
Lewis said that any drop in tax money from cigarettes would be more than made up for by saves in other areas and lower healthcare costs.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health says that in 2022, 10.4% of people in the state said they smoked cigarettes.
Other places thinking about bans like this
Some California politicians want to ban all tobacco sales. They introduced a bill last year that would make it illegal to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products to people born after January 1, 2007.
New Zealand was the first country to pass a rule that made it illegal for anyone born on or after January 1, 2009 to buy tobacco. This meant that young people could never buy cigarettes again. The law was ended in the end.
In the UK, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suggested that the age at which people can legally buy smokes be raised by one year each year until it is finally against the law for everyone. Earlier this year, the plan did not get approved.
