WESTMINSTER, Mass. (AP) – A proposed first-in-the-nation ban on sales of all tobacco and nicotine products has bitterly divided this small community, and health officials are bracing for an onslaught of opinions as they consider the move.
Westminster’s Board of Health said it was expecting a strong turnout Wednesday evening, and it was meeting in a school cafeteria rather than in its usual cramped conference room at Town Hall. A final decision was expected later.
Officials in the central Massachusetts town said they’re fed up with bubblegum-flavored cigars, electronic cigarettes and other new products that appeal to young people. They said the easiest course of action is to enact a total ban on all sales within town lines.
The American Lung Association said Westminster would be the first community in the U.S. to take such sweeping action.
Town health agent Elizabeth Swedberg has the support of nonsmokers like Vicki Tobin, who said she’d like to keep cigarettes out of sight – and mind – of her three young boys.