The Belmont Board of Health will be holding an informational meeting tonight, Thursday, May 22, at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall auditorium to hear from residents on a proposal to raise the age to 21 years old to purchase both tobacco and the increasingly popular “e-cigarette” nicotine delivery devices in Belmont.
“It is a proposal that we want people to know and comment,” said Dr. David Alper, vice chair of the Belmont Board of Health on Monday, May 19.
Two years ago, Belmont raised the age requirement to 19 to purchase all tobacco-related products such as cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco.
The board can unilaterally increase the age limit without Town Meeting approval since it would be a change in health regulations, not altering a town bylaw.
In 2005, Needham was the first community in the United States that prohibited sales to anyone under 21 years old.
Since then, New York City has issued the same ban while neighboring Arlington is raising their age of sale to 21 via a three-year step plan.
Hi Franklin, although I use an e cigarette myself. I would strongly recommend raising the age to 21, nicotine is highly addictive and such only be used to help smokers.