On Wednesday, the Westminster Board of Health will hold a hearing to discuss the municipality’s proposition to prohibit the sale of any and every tobacco product in the town. If the regulation is approved, Westminster would become the first town in the United States to enact such a ban — and perhaps a pioneer of a growing movement to end smoking.
The movement in Westminster kicked off when grocery store owner Brian Vincent noticed that tobacco products accounted for 5 percent of his sales and began collecting signatures to ban tobacco. With support from the New England Convenience Store Association, Vincent was able to collect 800 signatures.
According to a January 2014 report released by the U.S. Surgeon General, smoking shortens life more than most other risk factors for early mortality, resulting in an average 10-year reduction of life. However, quitting at age 40 can reduce the loss by about 90 percent, and stopping at approximately 60 years old can reduce the loss approximately 40 percent. The report also said quitting altogether, rather than reducing the amount one smokes, is the most effective way to avoid early death.
There’s no doubt that smoking is a nasty – and deadly – habit, and it is admirable that a town would care enough about its residents to try to curb their addictions. Considering that the town would be losing profits from lack of tobacco sales, it is even more impressive that the initiative has met little opposition. Still, some groups, namely cigarette manufacturers, predict major hits to businesses as a result of banning tobacco products.
“We believe businesses should be able to choose which products they carry,” David Sutton, a spokesman for the Altria Group Inc., which owns the nation’s biggest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, told the Associated Press Sunday. “If the ban were to be implemented, adult tobacco and e-vapor consumers could shift their purchases to neighboring stores. The proposed regulations, if enacted, would fundamentally alter these businesses and would likely cost Westminster jobs.”
The truth is that if someone is addicted to cigarettes, chances are they won’t mind driving a couple miles outside of their town borders to buy a couple packs. After all, smoking is completely legal, and no one can stop anyone of age from puffing on a cigarette. Furthermore, in banning tobacco sales in Westminster, the town is essentially handing a profitable industry over to their neighboring towns, which are likely stocking up on their tobacco supplies right now.
In Boston, healthcare and educational institutions were banned from selling tobacco products in 2009. Oddly, City Convenience stores on the Boston University campus still sell cigarettes, but students cannot buy them with BU Convenience points. Although there is obviously a smoking contingent on the BU campus, the lack of convenient campus sales, coupled with CVS’s recent refusal to sell cigarettes, could result in an eventual reduction of smokers, which would definitely not be a bad thing.
Outside of Boston, historically Puritan-esque Massachusetts has also found ways to curtail its support of tobacco consumption. Several Massachusetts towns, including Needham, Brookline and Sudbury, have elected to raise the legal age of tobacco purchasing from 18 to 21 years of age. Although smokers under the age limit could certainly just drive somewhere else to get their fix, it may be a positive warning bell to know that several towns are against the deadly addiction associated with smoking.
If residents of Westminster are in accordance in wanting to put a ban on selling tobacco products, who is anyone to judge? So the barrier is arbitrary. Very few smokers are likely to quit smoking just because the town doesn’t sell. That doesn’t mean the town is wrong to not support their habit. Smoking has been killing people for over 100 years, and even a statement of protest as small as Westminster’s should be welcomed.
Westminster may just be one small town, but as potential pioneers of tobacco sale bans, other towns could follow in their footsteps, launching a growing movement against smoking. Massachusetts — and the United States, for that matter —won’t be any worse with a few less smokers in its borders.
