In the towns of Leverett and Montague in Frankly County, Massachusetts the health board looking to change the current age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21.
The town of Leverett is looking to go a step beyond with the addition of banning flavored tobacco except for menthol.
According to Leverett Board of Health Chairwoman Fay Zipkowitz , the board will pass the proposed regulations which were introduced by a representative of the Substance and Tobacco Prevention Partnership of Franklin and Hampshire Counties.
Meanwhile, the Montague Board of Health will hold a meeting tonight at 6pm in the Town Hall. “There’s a push right now in the state to raise the minimum purchase age for tobacco to 21 years,” said Montague Director of Public Health Gina McNeely. She added that a vote in Montague is likely in February or later and that she is very much in favor of it.
The proposed regulations originate with the state Department of Public Health and were reviewed by lawyers working for the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards.
“The state is very reluctant to write statewide regs in some instances, such as tattoo, body art,” McNeely said. “It’s weird, it’s confusing, I remember years ago when tattooing became legal in Mass., boards of health were begging the state to please just give us a set of regulations that we could follow, and we wound up all scrambling and writing our own, and it’s the same with tobacco.”
Leverett, Massachusetts is home to 1,700 people over 23 square miles and was founded in 1774.
Montague, Massachusetts is home to 8,500 people over 31.47 square miles and was founded in 1715.
