Newton City Council approves a 'generational ban' on tobacco products

Newton city councilors voted to approve an ordinance Tuesday night that bans the sale of tobacco or e-cigarette products to anyone born on, or after, March 1, 2004. Adults who are currently 21 or older would be allowed to continue buying the products.

The measure passed by a vote of 19 councilors in favor, four against and one absent.

Newton joins Brookline, Needham and 10 other Massachusetts communities with similar so-called "generational bans" on tobacco. Brookline was the first municipality to adopt the ordinance; the state's high court backed the town's right to enact such a rule last March.

Councilor David Micley voted against the measure. He told WBUR’s Morning Edition that he views preventing youth tobacco use and restricting an adult's choice to use tobacco as two separate issues.

“I think our power to limit is not limitless,” said Micley. “We have to choose our spots of where we want to draw those lines and create those restrictions. And there's a cost to taking steps to take away people's individual choices.”

Newton South High School student Clio McAneny, agrees with Micley. The soon-to-be 18-year-old said she respects that the mayor wants to keep kids healthy and safe, and that the city has a reputation to uphold, but that adult choice is important.

"I honestly think that keeping the limit to 21 and over, I think that's just a good standard set for now because there are adults that will be angry with this, that live here, that have lived here their whole lives," McAneny said.

But the council showed strong support for the measure, despite the opposition's concerns of limiting choices for adults.

At the meeting Tuesday night, Councilor Maria Scibelli Greenberg said that the arguments about government overreach remind her of the debate over car seatbelt mandates or motorcycle helmet requirements.

“It’s clear that many lives have been saved by this government overreach," said Greenberg. "It will be clear many years from now that this item will have saved many lives also.”

Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller wrote in a newsletter earlier this month that the goal of the ordinance is to reduce "the harm caused by tobacco products such as cigarettes and vapes."

"There is no safe amount of nicotine," she wrote. "Nicotine is harmful at all ages."

There are 35 retailers selling tobacco products in Newton, according to Fuller. The mayor said some expressed concern that this ordinance could harm their businesses.

State Sen. Jason Lewis and Reps. Tommy Vitolo and Kate Lipper-Garabedian announced in the fall they plan to file a statewide bill that would also ban those currently underage from buying tobacco when they reach adulthood. People must be over 21 to buy nicotine and tobacco products in Massachusetts.

Critics of the legislative action say a ban would be government overreach that infringes on adults' right to dictate their life choices and creates a slippery slope that could lead to bans on alcohol, marijuana, sugary beverages and more.