Brookline Business Owners Suing Town Over Tobacco Ban

BROOKLINE, MA — Several Brookline business owners have filed a lawsuit against the town, challenging the age-based tobacco ban that is set to go into effect on Sept. 27.

The plaintiffs, which include Brookline Sunoco, One Stop Market, and Commonwealth Mobil, claim the new amendment to Article 14, which prevents tobacco and vape sales to anyone born after January 1, 2000, must be overturned for two reasons.

First, the lawsuit says the town law is preempted by the state law that allows those older than 21 to purchase tobacco. Second, it violates equal protection guarantees by "arbitrarily dividing the adult population into two classes with distinctly unequal rights."

However, the law was not only approved by Town Meeting Members last year and approved by Attorney General Maura Healy in July, who stated it was "within the Town’s authority to safeguard public health."

Brookline's age-based tobacco ban, which will incrementally increase the number of people who cannot legally purchase tobacco products in the town, is the first of its kind in the United States.