MA could become first state to ban all tobacco and nicotine products

• Current tobacco law in Massachusetts makes it illegal to sell tobacco or nicotine products to those under 21.
• S.1568 / H.2562 would ban the sale of tobacco or nicotine products to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2006.
• Proponents said that the bill is crucial to preventing young people from getting addicted to the harmful products, but opponents said that it “infantilizes” adults.

Isabel Tashie, a rising senior at Needham High School, said that her friend started using nicotine pouches her freshman year of high school. The packaging looked unassuming, “like a gum container,” so she thought it wouldn’t have a large effect on her.

“Our sophomore year of high school, my friend started crying in one of our classes,” Tashie said to the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Public Health July 14. “She told me that it was because she’d already gone to the bathroom once in our class to use nicotine products and now she was crying because the teacher wasn’t going to let her go a second time.” 

This experience is part of why Tashie, who is on the statewide leadership team for anti-tobacco organization The 84 Movement, was testifying in favor of a pair of bills that would completely ban tobacco or nicotine products for future generations in the state.

“I do not want my friends to die because we aren’t doing enough to stop billion-dollar corporations from targeting them,” she said.

The sale of nicotine is currently banned to anyone under 21, but S.1568 / H.2562 would ban the sale of tobacco or nicotine products to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2006, a group that will turn 21 in 2027. It would make Massachusetts the first state to ban these products.

The age cutoff would provide for a gradual phase-out of tobacco sales. Older adults who already smoke cigarettes, vape or use nicotine pouches would still be able to purchase the products.

The bills are contentious: Several dozen people signed up to speak on the bills and testimony took hours. Proponents, like Tashie, said that the bill is crucial to preventing young people from getting addicted to the harmful products. But opponents said that it would “infantilize” adults, is inconsistent with other drug policies in the state and would hurt businesses.

What do the Massachusetts tobacco laws say?

Current tobacco law in Massachusetts makes it illegal to sell tobacco or nicotine products to those under 21. These bills would amend the law to make it illegal to sell those products to people born on or after Jan. 1, 2006.

Tobacco or nicotine products, under the bills, would include “cigarettes, cigars, little cigars, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, snuff, electronic cigarettes, electronic cigars, electronic pipes, electronic nicotine delivery systems or any other similar products that rely on vaporization or aerosolization regardless of nicotine content in the product.”

Violators would face the same punishment of fines ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 depending on the number of offenses.

Should MA ban tobacco? These are the arguments

Many of the arguments for and against the bills centered around choice.

Cambridge resident Emily Wieja said that the plan “proposes to discriminate and infantilize certain adults based on their date of birth,” and that it sets a “dangerous precedent that will make it easier to remove adult choices in the future.”

But proponents of a ban said that the vast majority of nicotine users start as teenagers when they are young and susceptible to pressure. 

“Addiction itself ends freedom of choice,” said Katharine Silbaugh, a Boston University law professor specializing in adolescents, adding that tobacco kills more than half of its users.

Retailers also testified against the bill, saying that it was unnecessary due to the current law banning sale to those under 21 and that would hurt their businesses. Some also said it was ideologically inconsistent with other drug-related efforts in Massachusetts, like legalizing marijuana.

But proponents decried the product’s tendency to be marketed toward youth.

“If their business model is dependent on addicting kids to a deadly product, they should probably rethink their business model,” said Ginny Chadwick, a tobacco control researcher and Somerville resident.

Massachusetts and tobacco

Massachusetts has a history of cracking down on tobacco: In 2020, it became the first state to pass a ban on all flavored tobacco products as part of an effort to reduce youth interest in the drug. In a 2021 National Youth Tobacco survey, 79.1% of middle and high school students who used tobacco products reported using a flavor.

Now, advocates are looking to crack down further. Around the state 17 municipalities, including Brookline, Reading and Winchester, have already passed generational tobacco bans like that proposed in the pair of bills. In Brookline, the sale of tobacco is banned to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2000. Other cities, like Milton and Worcester, have rejected similar local proposals.

And in addition to the outright ban, there is also a bill to ban internet sales of tobacco.