Brookline, Massachuesetts, has come up with an interesting way to try and stop nicotine use in their city. Brookline is a town close to Boston. It has taken the unique approach to the very serious problem of nicotine addiction and its association with tobacco and vaping products by banning the sale of any products containing nicotine to anyone born on or after January 1,2000. This so called tobacco free geneation (TFG) bylaw has already been upheld by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.
Smoking kills more people in this country than HIV, drug overdoses, alcohol use, motor vehicle crashes and firearm - related injuries combined. Tobacco use kills about 480,000 people each year in the US according to the CDC and secondhand smoke contributes 41,000 deaths annually among people who don't smoke.
Now this TGF Bylaw applies to Brookline only, but it is being looked at by many other states and juridictions. Right now this bylaw and the courts decision provides a 'proof of concept' for birth date-phase out laws. By specifically banning nicotine containing products this law not only covers tobacco products but also vaping products and synthetic nicotine as well.
Nicotine dependency is so strong that every people who have stopped using nicotine for 1 year have a 35% chance of relapse at some point in their lives. Maybe the best way to deal with this issue is try and raise a tobacco free generation like the people of Brookline are trying to do. Could Pa, be next?
