MASSACHUSETTS - Town's First TOTAL Tobacco Ban?

QUESTION:  We should believe the tobacco industry that denied for decades that tobacco caused cancer?  Sure, fruit and candy flavored tobacco products are not to attract the young....

"Massachusetts town mulls nation’s first total tobacco ban" PBS NewsHour 11/16/2014

Excerpt

WILLIAM BRANGHAM (NewsHour):  The town of Westminster, Massachusetts — population 7,300 — is a small, quiet community about an hour west of Boston.

When the local health board holds meetings, it usually happens here in this room, where you can get advice about things like septic tanks and mosquito control.  But not on this day.  This meeting Wednesday night had to be moved to the local elementary school because the town is up in arms.

MAN:  You people make me sick!

WILLIAM BRANGHAM:  Why so mad?  That Board of Health is proposing to make Westminster the first town in the entire country to completely ban the sale of tobacco.

ANDREA CRETE, WESTMINSTER BOARD OF HEALTH:  It can be argued that the Board of Health permitting these establishments to sell these dangerous products that, when used as directed, kills 50 percent of its users, ethically goes against our public health mission.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM:  The town’s proposal would make it illegal to sell any product containing nicotine within city limits.  So no cigarettes, chewing tobacco, cigars, vaporizers.  You’d still be able to smoke or use tobacco in town, just not buy it.

ANDREA CRETE:  If we can prevent children from having access and exposure to tobacco and nicotine products and reduce the chances of them smoking or using them, then we’ve essentially saved lives.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM:  While it’s already illegal for kids to buy tobacco, the health board says the tobacco industry makes products like these — shiny, fruit flavored cigars and tobacco products — in order to lure kids into a lifetime habit.  The industry denies targeting kids.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM:  The effort began when one of the three health board members suggested the tobacco ban, following the lead of other health boards in other Massachusetts towns that had limited where residents could smoke or what kind of tobacco products they could buy.  Westminster’s volunteer board then consulted a specialist to examine the pros and cons of a total ban.