An article published in The Examination investigative journal reminded that Massachusetts has become one of the few territories in the world to have implemented laws banning the sale of tobacco and sometimes nicotine products to anyone born after a certain date[1]. The goal is to prevent new generations from entering into smoking and ultimately eliminate tobacco and nicotine from daily life.
A tobacco ban in Massachusetts implemented through the local initiative mechanism
Massachusetts’ experience is part of a longer history of tobacco regulation: Brookline was one of the first American territories to ban smoking in most indoor public places in 1994. The town of Needham was the first to raise the legal age for sales to 21 well before it became federal law in 2019. The intergenerational ban adopted in Brookline in 2020 concerns the sale of all tobacco and nicotine products—including e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches—to individuals born after January 1, 2000. Merchants challenged the measure in court, arguing that it conflicted with the law setting the minimum sales age at 21 and created discrimination based on date of birth. However, the state’s highest court sided with Brookline in 2024, paving the way for a rapid spread of the model. In the months and years that followed, 21 other cities and towns adopted similar measures. As a result, over 600,000 Massachusetts residents now live in areas where the sale of tobacco and other nicotine products to these generations is prohibited.
The success of this movement is largely due to the leeway granted to local officials in public health matters in Massachusetts. This allows local health boards to adopt such protective measures without waiting for state or federal reform.
Health boards, often made up of elected officials or volunteers, are smaller structures less exposed to industrial lobbying than larger assemblies. This local power reality in public health allowed engaged actors like Maureen Buzby to push for increasingly ambitious bans, city by city. Maureen Buzby is seen as the main organizer of this intergenerational ban campaign. A former finance executive, she committed to addiction prevention after retirement, working as a local tobacco prevention advocate in the Boston suburbs. Her commitment was built on field experience: monitoring illegal sales to minors, observing new nicotine products, and engaging with local health authorities. She noted the arrival over the years of flavored cigarillos, fun e-cigarettes, and discreet and cheap nicotine pouches, viewed as products designed to attract new customers, especially young people. According to her, the industry constantly needs to renew its customer base, with teenagers being the primary target. This realization fuels her determination to ban the sale of all these products to current and future young generations.
To date, 22 Massachusetts cities have implemented this intergenerational sales ban. Indiana and Hawaii have attempted similar bans without success so far. California, Minnesota, and New York, without committing to this intergenerational ban, have implemented bans on all nicotine products or sales licenses to achieve similar results.
A measure that is expanding beyond the local scale
These initially local measures are not without influence on national policies. Today, a bill proposing this intergenerational ban is being considered at the state level in Massachusetts as a whole. Its adoption may take time. Therefore, according to Maureen Buzby, the strategy of continuing to pursue and multiply local victories to create a political balance must be pursued, even if it also presents difficulties. About a dozen states, like Washington and New Hampshire, for example, have prohibited local governments from adopting certain anti-tobacco measures.
Moreover, an opposition has been set up to counter this measure. Groups close to retailers and the tobacco industry, such as the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association (sponsored by cigarette manufacturers Altria, Reynolds American, and ITG Brands), challenge these laws in the name of individual freedoms and the democratic process. Their argument is that nicotine products remain legal for adults and should therefore be able to be sold in regulated stores. The group has been successful in thwarting intergenerational bans in several Massachusetts cities. The opposition deployed is commensurate with the stakes for manufacturers, with a risk of a more or less long-term exit from tobacco and other nicotine products.
The Investigation by The Examination emphasizes that these initiatives strongly contribute to changing the norm in society. The social idea that it is no longer acceptable to sell tobacco and nicotine to entire generations born after a certain date is gradually gaining acceptance.
Elsewhere in the world, New Zealand was a pioneer in this matter, but the measure was abolished following a change in government that became close to tobacco manufacturers. Maldives was the first country to implement the ban for anyone born after 2007. In the UK, where the measure is being discussed under the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, the nation of Wales has already separately adopted this ban for anyone born after 2009.
In France, Green MP Nicolas Thierry presented a bipartisan bill to ban the sale of tobacco to those born after January 1, 2014, with the support of anti-smoking NGOs under the alliance Contre-Feu.
Other countries like Malaysia would like to implement such a measure but face strong opposition from the industry that interferes to block such a provision.
– Context: The article discusses the implementation of intergenerational bans on tobacco and nicotine products in Massachusetts and how this strategy has been successful at the local level. – Fact Check: The ban in Brookline was upheld by the state’s highest court in 2024, leading to the adoption of similar bans in over 21 other cities and towns in Massachusetts.
Editorial note: The content has been translated into natural English while retaining the original formatting and structure of the article.
