Over 40,000 adults over the age of 21 in Brookline, Mass may have had their civil rights taken away as of May 2019 when it comes to the issue of smoking as an adult under the Tobacco Free Generation Law which is an aggressive law that will prohibit sales of tobacco or e-cigarette products to anyone born during the current century.
So, how does this law work in the real world?
If you were born before Jan. 1, 2000, you are able to buy vapes, snus, cigarettes, or any other tobacco product. If you were born on or after that date, you’re still a legal adult but you will never have the right to buy tobacco products in Brookline—not even when you’re 50-years-old. Add to that, the 2009 federal Tobacco Control Act “affirms the authority of state and municipal governments to prohibit the sale of tobacco products to individuals of any age.”
So, you can get married, have a child, parent that child in any way you see fit, enlist in the army, drink alcohol….but you can never buy a cigarette or vape product. What?
At this point it would be conducive to define what a civil right is:
Civil rights are personal rights guaranteed and protected by the U.S. Constitution and federal laws enacted by Congress, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Civil rights include protection from unlawful discrimination.
Congress has passed a few laws that have seriously impeded the tobacco industry in the past yet since this law is a regional ban and not a state or federal ban, does it impact our civil rights even though its regional. The adults in Brookline may have an opinion but it may be a surprise to most that this community has traditionally leaned towards puritanical as a nod to their roots as a community and the morality police may be willing to push the boundaries of tobacco control through this law. The question remains, will their attempts be effective? Will their attempts at infantilizing adults fly and hold at the retail level?
Retailers or sellers have always found ways to circumvent access to banned products and substances – this is human nature. What it means in this context is that the supply chain will reconfigure to match demand through intermediaries and illegal sales. This law guarantees if not promotes straw purchases, a burgeoning black market, and increased sales for retailers just outside town limits taking into account that Brookline is bordered by Boston on 3 sides.
The overall goal is to eliminate all tobacco and nicotine use completely and this can only happen one step at a time with us all collectively going down a slippery slope of civil rights elimination. The constitution exists for a reason no matter how you want to interpret it at a regional level and try to pass it off as a puritanical moral issue. The thing to note here is that the Brookline town members meeting passed the law in a sweeping vote of 139 to 78….this is not at all a close call by any means. The law at this point went to state review for approval and was approved by Attorney General Maura Healey noting that “the Tobacco-Free Generation law does not conflict with the laws or constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Brookline’s “by-law banning the sale of tobacco products to those born after January 1, 2000 is within the Town’s authority to safeguard public health.”
Laugh all you like at the absurdity of it but what we all thought was laughable years ago when the Tobacco 21 law was passed or when vaping in open spaces like parks was banned, does not seem so laughable any longer. The slippery slope has started and it only takes one law to go into effect that can in part make it ok for a possible outright ban to happen, even if it takes decades to arrive. The impact to retailers may be small at first, but over time that incremental growth of depleting an industry is massive not only to the industry but to our rights as adults in a society as a whole.