The Peabody Board of Health in Peabody, Massachusetts, suspended efforts to enact a so-called “generational smoking ban” in favor of greater collaborative efforts with tobacco retailers to curb youth use of nicotine products following a nearly three-hour public hearing on Thursday.
The proposed ban would have permanently restricted the sales of tobacco products to all residents born on or after Jan. 1, 2004 — essentially creating a ban on all tobacco sales in the city over a long period of time.
Those in favor of the ban — based on the first-of-its-kind Brookline ban that survived efforts to overturn it at the state Supreme Judicial Court — argued that tobacco use is a public health danger with this step necessary to eliminate it over time in a way that delivers the least negative impact to local business as possible.
Those against the ban — which include four City Councilors who spoke, they said, on behalf of their constituents on Thursday — said tobacco use is a personal choice after age 21 and that the city should not act as an “island” outside of the state in enacting the ban that could harm local businesses and infringe on individual rights.
The Board of Health voted 2-1 to table the proposal for a year or longer after Director of Public Health Sharon Cameron proposed her plan to create an enforceable regulation agreement with the city’s tobacco retailers that includes increased enforcement of laws that prevent those under 21 from buying products and bans the use of flavored tobacco products, as well as enhanced training, education and monitoring of retailers.