Northampton nears vote on nicotine-free generation sales ban

NORTHAMPTON — The five-member Northampton Board of Health is poised to take the city nicotine-free next month.

During their March meeting held Thursday evening, the BOH unanimously voted to hold a public hearing and vote on whether to bar people born on or after July 1, 2005 from purchasing nicotine products at retail shops in the city as part of a push for a “nicotine-free generation.” The next board meeting is scheduled for April 16.

The proposed regulations discussed at Thursday’s public hearing would include a ban on vapes, pouches and other increasingly popular nicotine products for people born after that date as a strategy to discontinue nicotine habits for upcoming generations.

Board members agreed that the long-term outcome of this policy will reduce the number of smokers and nicotine users over time.

“It’s preventing new people,” said Dr. Joanne Levin, who chairs the board. “You also have to think about the current users who are dying little by little. So the goal is really that there will be very few smokers. That’s a very long-term goal.”

While the vote is scheduled for April, all of the board members expressed support for the idea this week. The board discussed whether the new rules, once approved, should start on July 1 of this year or Jan. 1, 2027, with members voting unanimously that the ban should begin sooner rather than later.

Levin said the measure is not about “taking anyone’s rights away,” and therefore would not be retroactive, meaning people already legally able to purchase nicotine products would keep that right and the policy would phase in over time as younger generations age.

Northampton would be the fifth of 20 municipalities in Hampshire County to adopt nicotine-free regulations, joining Belchertown, Pelham, South Hadley and Amherst. Easthampton is also mulling over whether to accept a similar ban.

Merridith O’Leary, commissioner of Health & Humans Services for Northampton, said the ban would not include over the counter nicotine cessation devices approved by the Food and Drug Administration. These include nicotine patches, gum, lozenges, inhalers and nasal sprays.

The public comment session featured voices for and against. Supporters cite the prevalence of young people smoking and the need to reduce the accessibility of nicotine, while local shop owners say that business will be impacted.

Northampton shop owner Hamid Habib predicted that 80% of the convenience stores in Northampton will shut down due to the ban.

“I know that this is not a priority for the city, but in five to 10 years, if this policy goes into effect you will see almost if not all, at least 80%, of the stores closing down,” Habib told the board. “Selling tobacco to adults is a big part of any convenience store’s business. I would suggest that anybody 21 years or older is not youth anymore. They should have a choice to whatever they like to smoke.”

Dr. Zach Rich, a nicotine cessation specialist from Newton, disagreed with that assessment. He said that Brookline, the first community in Massachusetts to adopt the regulations in 2020, hasn’t seen the economic impacts described by shop owners advocating against the generational ban.

“In Brookline … not a single retailer has had to close in response to this policy,” he said.

Heather Warner of Florence, coordinator of the Collaborative for Educational Services’ Hampshire Franklin Tobacco-Free Community Partnership, also downplayed the potential impacts on retail spaces.

“When we first talked about having smoke-free restaurants and bars, everybody was very concerned about the impact,” she said. “I think what happened is, not only was there not an economic impact to businesses, but they actually ended up getting new customers because most people don’t smoke and can’t tolerate the smoking conditions.”

Ananda Lennox of Leeds said that younger generations are involved in pervasive nicotine use. Her son also reported that the Northampton High School bathrooms have been closed off due to nicotine use and vandalism.

“Everybody seems to have it [nicotine], and it’s happening in the high school all the time,” said Lennox.

While Northampton is poised to join more than a dozen municipalities in Massachusetts that have adopted a nicotine-free generation policy, the state Legislature is also considering a bill to ban future generations from buying tobacco or nicotine products. The legislation, filed in early 2025, was the subject of a hearing last summer by the Joint Committee on Public Health and late last year was sent for further study.

The New England Convenience Store & Energy Marketers Association noted a number of cities and towns have also rejected similar local proposals, including Worcester, Peabody, Milton and Westfield.

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