Tobacco Free Town

Westminster, Mass., population 7,700, might become the first (as far as anyone knows) tobacco free town. On Wednesday the local Board of Health will hear public comment on a proposed regulation that could make them the first municipality in the United States to ban sales of all tobacco products within town lines. The U.S. Surgeon General has already said that if tobacco use continues unabated, 5.6 million American children who are younger than 18 today will die prematurely because of smoking and this town is poised to start the change that ends that statistic right now. A local convenience store owner for whom 5% of his sales are tobacco products is against the tobacco ban and is being backed by the New England Convenience Store Association. He has a petition with 800 signatures against the proposed ban. David Sutton, a spokesman for Richmond, Virginia-based Altria Group Inc., owner of the nation's biggest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, called the proposal a "bad policy" that will harm local employers, no surprise there. But what if what might harm local businesses in the short term helps children in the longer run. It will be interesting to see how this proposal ends up.