ORANGE — The Orange Board of Health met with selectmen Tuesday to discuss the town’s tobacco sales regulations and a proposed restriction on flavored inhalant products.
Board of Health Chairwoman Jane Pierce said certain selectmen had questions about the regulations and DJ Wilson, the tobacco control director for the Massachusetts Municipal Association, and Eric Jack, a part-time tobacco control inspector through the Board of Health Tobacco Control Alliance, were at the meeting to provide insight.
Wilson and Jack told The Recorder the proposed amendment would limit the sale of flavored tobacco and vaping products to businesses exclusively for people 18 or older. There are no businesses like this in Orange.
Pierce said the proposal will be discussed at a future meeting, likely to be next month.
Selectmen Walter Herk and Richard Sheridan said they do not advocate smoking, but they dislike aspects of Orange’s existing tobacco regulations.
The regulations prohibit anyone from selling or distributing tobacco or nicotine delivery products at retail establishments within Orange without first obtaining a Tobacco and Nicotine Delivery Product Sales Permit issued annually by the Orange Board of Health. The town does limit the number of tobacco sales permits to 12 permits and those permits are all being used.
Herk and Sheridan said they see the limits as unfair to businesses. Herk told Wilson he would rather the town allow more permits and fight youth tobacco usage by levying heavy fines against businesses that sell tobacco to minors.
Sheridan said he quit smoking in 1990, but tobacco is a legal product throughout the United States and limiting its sales could hurt local businesses. He said it would only make it more difficult for adults to get tobacco because they would have to travel to neighboring towns for it. Sheridan added smoking should be a personal decision for individual adults.
Pierce said Orange’s population is fewer than 8,000 and she feels 12 permits is enough for the town.
“Your libertarian views are well known to us, Dick,” Pierce told Sheridan.
Wilson mentioned 288 cities and towns in Massachusetts have local tobacco regulations and 77 have a cap on the number of tobacco permits allowed. This equates to 19 percent of Massachusetts cities and towns, he and Jack said.
Wendell resident Ken Carville spoke at the meeting to advocate for his fellow military veterans. He said smoking is prohibited in private clubs, such as the American Legion. He told the boards veterans have a right to smoke if they wish to and smoking can ease symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, which plagues many veterans and service members.
“They’ve already been through hell,” Carville said about veterans when The Recorder asked about the proven health problems smoking can cause.
Board of Health member Pat Pierson said at the meeting she is a nurse who cares for people “at the end stage of their lives” due to tobacco products. She said many of her patients started smoking because their parents did and it is important to make smoking less appealing to youth.
You can reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 258.
On Twitter: @DomenicPoli