ICYMI: Board of Health Considering Proposal to Raise Age for Tobacco Purchases

You may soon have to be 21 to buy cigarettes and other tobacco products in Peabody.

On Thursday, August 27, the Board of Health is holding a public hearing on a proposal to change the city’s tobacco sales regulations.

The changes would prohibit the sale of tobacco and other nicotine delivery products to anyone under 21.

Local retailers would be prohibited from selling tobacco to anyone under 21 and would have to change the signage in their stores to reflect this change in the city ordinance.

City Health and Human Services Director Sharon Cameron said the Board of Health has been considering the change in regulations for the past six months.

The Peabody effort is part of a larger statewide Tobacco 21 initiative to raise the tobacco age to 21. The effort started in Needham in 2005 and there are now over 70 cities and towns in Massachusetts that have adopted Tobacco 21.

Cameron said the Board of Health has the authority to enact the raise in the tobacco age. The city would have to post the effective date and notify retailers if the board approves the change on Thursday night.

Cameron points to several articles showing that if the tobacco age were raised to 21 nationwide, it could result in almost a quarter million fewer premature deaths and a 12 percent drop in tobacco use rates.

Information on two of those recent reports are available here and here.

The Board of Health public hearing is scheduled for Thursday, August 27 at 6:30 p.m. at Peabody City Hall.

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