The Massachusetts
Medical Society wishes to be recorded in strong support for H.2864 and S.1218, An
Act to Protect Youth from the Health Risks of Tobacco and Nicotine Addiction.
The Mass Medical
Society envisions a day when tobacco-related disease and death are eliminated.
To that end, the Society is an active members of Tobacco Free Mass and works to
advance legislation, regulations, and policies that prevent tobacco use and,
and ensure access to affordable, evidence-based and comprehensive cessation and
prevention services for all individuals fighting nicotine addiction. We have
made great progress in reducing tobacco use, however, there is more work to be
done, especially with young people who are particularly susceptible to nicotine
addiction.
H.2864/S.1218
would reduce tobacco use and nicotine addiction among youth, improve health,
save lives, and reduce health care costs through the following provisions:
- Prohibition
on the sale of all tobacco and nicotine delivery products to youth under the
age of 21 with grandfathering.
- Responsible
regulation of nicotine delivery products like e-cigarettes, including
prohibitions on their use at schools, including vocational schools and
technical institutes, and in any workplace.
- Broadens
the existing definition of tobacco products to include e-cigarettes, yet not
for tax purposes.
- Prohibits
tobacco vending machines.
- Prohibits
sale of all tobacco and nicotine delivery products in pharmacies and other
health-care institutions. CVS has already stopped such sales but this provision
would require all other pharmacies to follow suit.
Last year, this
bill made significant progress in the State House. The bill was engrossed in the Senate and
advanced to House Ways and Means before the end of the session.
H.2864/S.1218
would go a long way towards reducing tobacco use by young people and ensuring
that all individuals live free of secondhand smoke exposure.
The following
bills are consistent with the provisions of H.2864/S.1218 and are also
supported by the MMS:
- The
following bills are consistent with the provisions of H.2864/S.1218 and are
also supported by the MMS:
- HB835,
An Act requiring child-resistant packaging of liquid nicotine containers
(Hecht)
- HB1217,
An Act modernizing tobacco control and protecting the health of minors
(Sanchez)
- HB2455,
An Act restricting the sale of tobacco products at health care institutions
(Garballey)
- SB1178 - An Act relative to the age of tobacco
purchase (Creem)
- SB1271 - An Act relative to tobacco cessation (Tarr)
