Late last year the Southborough Board of Health voted unanimously to ban the sale of tobacco products at pharmacies in town. Southborough is one of only a handful of communities to enact such a ban, but there’s a chance that could change.
A legislative committee yesterday approved a bill that would impose a statewide ban on the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products in not only pharmacies, but also hospitals, health clinics or any big box store with working pharmacists on site. You can read more about the bill here.
In a public hearing last year Board of Health Chairman Louis Fazen said one of his main objectives in supporting the tobacco ban was to limit the exposure kids have to cigarettes. “A pharmacy is an inappropriate way to expose youth to the sale of cigarettes, to make them think that it’s part of a healthy lifestyle,” he said.
Not all Southborough officials agreed. “They’re trying to legislate conduct. You can’t do that,” Selectman John Rooney said of the board’s decision. “It’s a very, very slippery slope.” (You can read more about Rooney’s thoughts on the matter in this very detailed comment.)
What do you think? Should the state follow Southborough’s lead? Share your thoughts in the comments.
(Photo posted to Flickr by Isabel Bloedwater)
As I reformed smoker of 35+ years, I know that tobacco is a vile, disgusting, dangerous, addictive threat to our health. I won’t let anyone (including my mother) smoke in my house. However, it is a legal product. This is the sort of meaningless, “feel good” legislation that will do nothing to change the behavior of those addicted to tobacco. All it does is create another layer of regulation, another useless straw for the camel to carry.
Tobacco use is a threat to public health. By choosing to smoke, smokers saddle non smokers with increased health care costs. Tobacco users and those that live with them should pay higher health care premiums. If the legislature really meant to do something meaningful in this area, instead of the meaningless drivel it proposes, it would have banned the sale, possession, and consumption of tobacco products similar to the ban on marijuana.
Oh, wait, I forgot, tobacco contributes millions in tax revenues and campaign contributions. Never mind, let’s stick with the meaningless and pretend we are doing something.
“A pharmacy is an inappropriate way to expose youth to the sale of cigarettes, to make them think that it’s part of a healthy lifestyle,” he said.
Huh? Like all those prescription drugs and that over-the-counter crap they sell are part of a “healthy lifestyle”? Who is misleading whom?