ASHFIELD — The town’s Board of Health unanimously adopted regulations restricting tobacco and vape product sales following a concise public hearing this week.

The regulations include local policy decisions recommended by the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards, language required to be copied from the latest state law and state health department regulations, and standard language previously adopted by local health boards and required by the state.

The Board of Health meeting was sparsely attended, as Ilana Gerjuoy of the Franklin Regional Council of Governments’ Communities That Care Coalition, was present at Ashfield Town Hall on Wednesday night to offer her insights. Heather Warner, a coordinator for the Hampshire-Franklin Tobacco Free Community Partnership, delivered comments remotely via Zoom.

While it has long been known that tobacco smoking causes serious health issues and birth defects, vaping is a much newer trend. Warner explained that nicotine pouches — pre-portioned microfiber pouches containing a powder made of nicotine, flavorings and other ingredients — contain more nicotine than cigarettes. According to the new regulations’ statement of purpose, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has concluded that nicotine is as addictive as cocaine or heroin, and the surgeon general found that nicotine exposure during adolescence may have lasting adverse consequences for brain development.

Gerjuoy said 90% of adult smokers started the habit before they turned 18.

“And tobacco companies know this and target young people,” she said. Every large tobacco company owns at least one vape/electronic cigarette company, according to the University of California, Davis.

Warner mentioned Zyn, a popular nicotine pouch brand created in Sweden and purchased by tobacco industry giant Philip Morris International Inc. in 2022. She said regulations are meant to protect young people from “predatory marketing by the industry.”

A note on a draft copy of the new regulations recommends readers pay particular attention to the “Definitions” section, which defines all the terms used in the document. The new regulations include a definition for an electronic nicotine delivery system, an electronic device that can be used to deliver nicotine or another substance to a person inhaling from the device. These delivery systems include, but are not limited to, electronic cigarettes, electronic cigars, electronic cigarillos, electronic pipes, vaping pens, hookah pens and other similar devices that rely on vaporization or aerosolization. A flavored tobacco product, which are banned, is defined as “any tobacco product or component part thereof that contains a constituent that has or produces a characterizing flavor.”

A constituent is defined as “any ingredient, substance, chemical or compound, other than tobacco, water or reconstituted tobacco sheet, that is added by the manufacturer to a tobacco product during the processing, manufacturing or packaging of the tobacco product.”

The new regulations tweak the definition of an adult-only retail tobacco store to include one that has a separate entrance not used by any other retailer and cannot sell food, beverages or alcohol. These establishments are exempt from a regulation prohibiting self-service displays of tobacco products.

According to the regulations, there can be no more than one tobacco product sales permit issued in Ashfield at any given time and any permit holder who has failed to renew their permit within 30 days of expiration will be treated as a first-time applicant. New applicants for permits who are applying at a time when the maximum number of permits have been issued will be placed on a waiting list and eligible to apply for a permit on a first-come, first-serve basis. A tobacco product sales permit will not be renewed if a permit holder has sold a tobacco product to someone younger than 21 years old three times within the previous permit year and the time period to appeal has expired. The town’s current tobacco sales permit is held by Neighbors Convenience Store. 

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.