OPINION:
Prohibition is back in Westminster, a rural town of about 8,000 near the New Hampshire border in north-central Massachusetts. The town’s three-member board of health said it would prohibit the sale of all tobacco products within the town’s borders. Comments are being taken until Dec. 1 on the ban that, if approved, would take effect next year.
When legislators gave local boards of health the power to make “reasonable health regulations,” they probably had in mind the sort of things small towns do, such as making flu shots available and organizing blood drives. They surely didn’t imagine localities imposing a ban on all tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars, pipe and hookah tobacco, chewing tobacco and electronic cigarettes.
Retailers caught selling these forbidden vices would be subject to a fine of $300 per violation, but it probably wouldn’t make much of a dent in the use of tobacco. It’s a 12-minute drive to a gasoline station, convenience mart or grocery store in a neighboring city that will happily sell Westminster residents a pack of smokes or a can of snuff.
There’s a danger that nearby towns might decide to join the trend. Already, bureaucrats in Worcester, a 30-minute drive from Westminster, are mulling the possibilities of adopting their own prohibitions. Tobacco users who want a nicotine fix would still find a way. The scheme merely increases the hassle. The New Hampshire border is less than 20 miles away. Rather than contributing to the health of the community, the proposal would make local businesses sick.
Brian Vincent, who owns a small grocery story on the town’s main street, told The New York Daily News that he sells $100,000 worth of tobacco a year. Smokers may find it more convenient to buy gasoline and do their shopping in a neighboring town where they have to go to purchase their cigarettes, anyway.
“It’s going to send business five minutes this way or five minutes that way. No one’s going to quit,” Mr. Vincent said.
Mr. Vincent has collected nearly 1,000 signatures from residents opposing the ban. Hundreds attended a public meeting of the board of health last week, but the board cut off debate and ended the meeting quickly.
The politicians who make up the Westminster Board of Selectmen announced unanimous opposition to the ban, but the local board of health has the authority to adopt any proposal as long as it claims to advance public health. The only check on a runaway board is the simple power to recall board members, two of whom can be voted out rather quickly while the third, board Chairman Andrea Crete, can stay until her term expires in April.
Given the politics, the ban probably won’t last long. Cigarettes are lethal, they’re expensive and they smell bad. Smokers should quit, but oppressive politicians can be worse than the evil weed.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.