The Marion Board of Health has chosen May 7 to hold the public hearing on its proposed ban on flavored tobacco and nicotine delivery products, which would include flavored cigars and flavored liquids used in electronic vaping devices.

This amendment to the existing tobacco and nicotine regulation was conceived in 2016, but the board sent it to the sidelines last year so it could take up the adult-use recreational marijuana ball and run with it. Now that the field is clear, the board is again ready to tackle the issue.

The amendment to the regulation would add three new definitions: characterizing flavor, flavored tobacco product, and adult-only retail tobacco store.

A “characterizing flavor” is defined as a “distinguishable taste or aroma, other than the taste or aroma of tobacco. …” Not considered a “characterizing flavor”, however, are products with the aroma or taste of menthol, mint, or wintergreen.

A second definition, “flavored tobacco product,” encompasses anything with the aforementioned characterizing flavor.

The other definition, “adult-only tobacco retail store”, is defined as an establishment not required to possess a retail food permit whose primary purpose is to sell tobacco products and paraphernalia, and entrance is restricted to people 21 and older.

The amendment would restrict the sale of flavored tobacco and nicotine to adult-only tobacco retail stores, of which there are currently none in Marion.

For many months, the Board of Health was bent on becoming the first town in the entire country to successfully ban the sale of menthol cigarettes, but earlier this year the board abandoned that agenda.

The regulation amendment, written by and presented to the board by Cheryl Sbarra, the senior staff attorney and director of the TobaccoCessation and Prevention Program and Chronic Disease Prevention Program for the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards, would prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco and nicotine products in any of the existing establishments that currently sell cigarettes, cigars, e-cigarettes, and vaping products.

There was no quorum on April 9 during the board’s regular meeting so no vote was taken to move the amendment forward to public hearing, but, according to Health Agent Karen Walega, that vote could be taken at the board’s next meeting. As for the language of the amendment, Walega confirmed that it would likely be presented as-is, saying, “I think were just waiting on [town counsel].”

The next meeting of the Marion Board of Health is scheduled for April 23 at 4:30 pm at the Marion Town House.

Marion Board of Health

By Jean Perry