The Newton City Council voted 19-4 to enact a generational ban on tobacco sales, making it illegal to sell tobacco to anyone born after March 1, 2004. This initiative is part of a broader movement in Massachusetts, following Brookline's earlier ban in 2020. The revised ban was supported by councilor Joshua Krintzman, who referred to it as a "lifetime prohibition." Councilor Alison Leary highlighted the severe public health impacts of tobacco, emphasizing its role in causing more deaths than numerous other risks combined, and pointing to the overarching costs associated with tobacco use.
"Programs and Services voted to amend the proposed item so that it now reads that anyone born after March 1, 2004, would be prohibited from purchasing tobacco in the city of Newton."
"It essentially phases out tobacco sales in the city of Newton," Krintzman said.
"Smoking kills more people than alcohol, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders, suicides, AIDS combined," Leary said.
"The amount of people it kills, the amount of loved ones people lose, the amount of health insurance costs that go to this, loss of productivity, it goes on and on and on."
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