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County, state officials call for stricter flavored tobacco regulations
Falmouth store owners speak out against proposal before health board
FALMOUTH — Health officials in Falmouth are taking it slow when it comes to tightening local regulations to make it more difficult for underage users to get flavored tobacco products, even though a few Barnstable County communities have already taken the step.
Although Barnstable, Chatham and Brewster have restricted sales of all flavored tobacco to adult tobacco shops, Falmouth’s Board of Health is still in the “listening” stages, Stephen Rafferty, the board’s acting chairman, said Monday.
The board met Monday with Robert Collett from the Barnstable County Regional Tobacco Control Program and D.J. Wilson, public health liaison from the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
Gov. Charlie Baker’s four-month ban, which was put into effect Sept. 24, is keeping all vape products off the shelves of Massachusetts stores until mid-January. What the state ban doesn’t address are forms of flavored tobacco beyond vape products, such as menthol cigarettes, menthol and mint cigars, chew or dip tobacco, which is sold in several fruit and mint flavors.
Collett and Wilson are urging towns to adopt regulations that would restrict the sale of those products to smoke shops, where patrons must be 21 or older. The regulation would also apply to flavored tobacco in vape form, should Baker’s ban be lifted.
About 30 local store owners turned out Monday to offer their perspective.
“Prohibition ends with guns, violence and crime,” warned store owner Bryan Anderson, adding that cutting off legitimate supply will lead to black market sales.
Akku Patel, owner of the local 7-Eleven store, said the majority of illness being attributed to vaping appears to be tied to devices containing THC. He urged the board not to deal with the problem via local regulations.
“I would rather have the state go through it and figure out the real cause,” Patel said.
Anderson seconded that suggestion. “When you do it town to town, you create utter chaos.”
Currently Falmouth’s only limitation on tobacco products beyond Baker’s temporary statewide vape ban has been that sales are prohibited to anyone under 21 years old. That restriction became a state law last December.
While Falmouth merchants said they have a strong record of complying with the age limit, Falmouth Health Agent Scott McGann disagreed.
During compliance checks, five of 31 stores failed, McGann noted.
“That’s 16%,” he said. “That’s the highest failure rate on the Cape.”
Wilson said limiting all flavored tobacco to tobacco shops can help with compliance.
“If they sell to a kid, it means suspension,” he said of those specialty shops. “Your business is on the line because that’s all you sell.”
Attorney Patrick Tinsley, who represents the Coalition for Responsible Retail, argued that limiting the sale of flavored tobacco to tobacco shops gives those businesses “a tremendous unearned windfall” while creating a financial burden for convenience store owners, where tobacco sales make up “30 to 40% of their income.”
“The convenience store owners are on the front line,” Tinsley said. “I recommend a partnership.”
Public concern has surged over the last several weeks regarding the connection health experts have made between e-cigarettes and other vaping products and serious lung disease. The first death in Massachusetts from lung injury due to vaping, involving a woman in her 60s from Hampshire County, was announced Monday by the state Department of Public Health.
The public has been aware of the dangers of cigarette smoking for several decades, causing cigarette use to drop dramatically over the last 25 years, Collett told the board.
But as the popularity of vaping rises, so does tobacco use.
Vapes containing nicotine are very addictive, Collett said. Becoming addicted only takes about two weeks.
“About 23 to 24% of kids are now addicted,” Collett said. “And 10% of all 11- and 12 year-olds have tried it.”
According to Wilson, there is another reason vaping is getting so much attention.
“It isn’t the bad kid,” he said of those vaping. “It’s the quarterback who gets booted off the team.”
When it comes to traditional cigarettes, menthol is typically preferred by young smokers since they are not as harsh. Also popular are mint and menthol cigars.
Barnstable, Chatham and Harwich are among just 13 communities statewide that have included menthol, wintergreen and mint as part of their flavor restrictions.
The menthol restriction takes cigarette brands like Newports — known to be a favorite among young smokers — off the shelves of local mini-marts and liquor stores.
Most communities with flavored tobacco restrictions have continued to allow menthol, mint and wintergreen tobacco products to avoid major pushback by local business owners. On the Cape, the list of town allowing those products includes Brewster, Mashpee, Orleans, Provincetown, Wellfleet and Yarmouth, though Yarmouth may be ready to discuss enacting the restrictions, Collett said after the meeting.
As for Falmouth, Collett noted the town had the most illegal sales on the Cape during compliance checks.
“Hopefully, they’ll take a hard look at toughening up,” he said.
Follow Christine Legere on Twitter: @ChrisLegereCCT.
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