AMHERST — As lawmakers debate a bill to ban flavored tobacco statewide, the Amherst Board of Health will consider its own restrictions Thursday.
The board is considering rules that would restrict the sale of flavored tobacco and vaping products to adults-only smoke shops, of which there are two in the community. Menthol cigarettes are considered flavored under the proposed regulations.
The change would mean package stores would be barred from selling flavored tobacco and vaping products. The policy would set a maximum number of permits available for adults-only tobacco stores.
The two existing adults-only businesses in town are Escape Smoke Shop at 96 North Pleasant St. and Wildside Smoke Shop at 332 College St.
The Board of Health has scheduled a public hearing Thursday to discuss the proposed changes, when the public will be invited to comment on the idea. The meeting begins at 5 p.m. in the Pole Room at the Bangs Community Center, 70 Boltwood Walk, with the hearing on the draft tobacco regulations scheduled to start at 5:30.
“No vote will be taken at the end of the public hearing. Written testimony will be accepted until November 22, 2019 and can be emailed to federmanj@amherstma.gov or mailed to Julie Federman, Health Department, 70 Boltwood Walk, Amherst, MA, 01002,” a statement from the Health Department says.
The town’s current tobacco regulations were adopted in 2015. The 13-page document includes the following: “the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has held that ... ‘the right to engage in business must yield to the paramount right of government to protect the public health by any rational means.’”
The 2015 policy states: “there exists conclusive evidence that tobacco smoking causes cancer, respiratory and cardiac diseases, negative birth outcomes, irritations to the eyes, nose and throat.”
The Massachusetts House will vote Wednesday on a bill that would ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, including mint and menthol. The bill would also impose a 75% excise tax on all electronic cigarettes.
Vaping products are temporarily banned in Massachusetts under a public health emergency declared by Gov. Charlie Baker.