Northborough mulls smoking ban on town properties

Soccer moms hoping to light up on the sidelines may soon be out of luck in Northborough.
Health Agent Jamie Terry said the Board of Health next month will hold a public hearing on “significant” changes to the town’s tobacco regulations that would ban smoking altogether outside Town Hall, the police and fire stations, the library, the senior center, Ellsworth McAfee Park, Assabet Park and the Memorial and Casey baseball fields on East Main Street.
The plan is still a draft, she said, but is supported by the board in an effort to respect the health of non-smokers who use those properties or fields.
“The biggest impact, I think, will be the fields,” Terry said. If smoking data from the state is any indication, she said there should be support in town for the idea.
“I’m hopeful that given only 12 percent of the population smokes, 88 percent will find this to be a benefit,” she said.
The ban would include any “nicotine-delivering device,” she said, including chewing tobacco. It would also extend to electronic cigarettes, which have come under fire from anti-smoking groups as possibly unsafe and appealing to children.
Terry said the board’s prime focus is to protect the health of those who do not smoke, not to punish those who do.
She said it does not appear that the board will look to ban the sale of tobacco in pharmacies — something Southborough and Wellesley have already done and that the board had been considering for some time.
Ban proponents argue that businesses who purportedly exist to sell items to help one’s health shouldn’t also be selling deadly products like cigarettes.
Opponents in the business community argue that the ban won’t curb smoking and instead puts pharmacies at an unfair disadvantage.
Terry said the majority of the board was against the idea, with the feeling being that the ban wouldn’t stop people from buying tobacco elsewhere.
But the board is proposing a tougher crackdown on establishments caught selling tobacco to minors.
Under current regulations, a store caught selling to a minor gets fined $100 for the first offense and placed on probation for one year. If it is caught selling a second time within the year, its permit to sell tobacco is suspended for seven days along with a $200 fine. The third offense is the death knell, resulting in the complete revocation of the license.