Draft regulations posted on the town’s website would prohibit sales of products containing tobacco or nicotine, including cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and even electronic cigarettes, which use batteries to heat nicotine-laced liquid, producing a vapor that is inhaled.
The plan has infuriated local store owners, who are circulating petitions to block the action, saying it would drive them out of business and simply send people to nearby communities for their tobacco products.
A ban such as the one under consideration in Westminster represents the next frontier in the campaign to curb tobacco use, which is already prohibited in all Massachusetts workplaces, including restaurants and bars. It is already illegal to sell tobacco products to minors, and some communities have banned smoking in public parks.
In Westminster, a town of 7,400 that sits about 25 miles north of Worcester, the Board of Health has been weighing a total ban for months, said Westminster health agent Elizabeth “Wibby” Swedberg. The board has grown increasingly frustrated trying to stay a step ahead of tobacco companies’ slick marketing and new products, such as 69-cent bubble gum-flavored cigars aimed at luring younger smokers, Swedberg said.
