HomeMy WebLinkAboutHELFER EMAIL 02_27_2026&Outloo k
Fw: PLEASE NO GENERATIONAL PROHIBITION
From Lewis, Barry < BLewis@yarmouth.ma.us>
Date Mon 2026-03-02 8:00 AM
To Provos, Sara < SProvos@yarmouth.ma.us >; Hillard Boskey < hillard.boskey@gmail.com >
Sara please put this into the NFG file please
Barry
From: Stephen Helfer <shelfer@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, February 27 ,2026 4:40 PM
To: Lewis, Barry <BLewis@yarmouth.ma. us>; Selectboard <Selectboard @yarmouth.ma.us>; Whritenour, Robert
<RWhritenour@yarmouth.ma.us>
SUbiEct: PLEASE NO GENERATIONAL PROHIBITION
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Yarmouth BOH, Select Board, & Administrator Whitenour:
Activists are traveling throughout the state to promote a Generational Tobacco & Nicotine Prohibition
Though not a Yarmouth resident, I would like to voice strong opposition.
'l) lf the tobacco industry is trying to attract youth, it is not succeeding. The centers for Disease
Control reports teenage smoking at a 25-year low. The Food & Drug Administration reports youth
vaping at a 1O-year low & their nicotine pouch use "low." A Generational robacco & Nicotine
Prohibition does not affect youth, it affects adults 21 & over only.
2) Most of the stores that sell tobacco & nicotine products are owned by lmmigrants of color. This
prohibition may not close their businesses, but it would hurt & devalue them. Brookline
merchants Elias Audy & Fahad lqbal saw overall sales declines, noyjust tobacco
& nicotine, after the town imposed thrs ban. The ability to successfully run a small business is vital to
public health.
3) Massachusetts residents 21 & over are deemed competent to decide whether or not to buy alcohol
or marijuana--both intoxicants. These same aduits need not be prohibited from making their own
decisions regarding tobacco & n icotine-- neither of which impairs judgment or compromises driving
ability.
Stephen Helfer (617) 876-2457
Cambridge Citizens for Smokers' Rights
(We receive no funding from any source whatsoever)
Sou rces:
Cigarette smoking reached the lowest level ever recorded by the survey, with only 1.4% of students
reporting current use in 2024.
CDC Newsroom , Oct. 17,2024
http::Zuarywcds. gov / media / releases / 2024 /p 1 0 1 7-youth-tobac
Youth E-Cigarette Use Drops to Lowest Level in a Decade: Youth Use of Nicotine Pouches Remains Low
FDA News Release, Sept. 5, 2024
hUp-slunaaryldagov/news-events/press-a nnou ncemen garette-use-d rops:lsly_estjcyel:
decade
Elias Audy owns Village Mobil. He has seen a 5o/o to $yo reduction in sales of gas, cigarettes, and other
store items & expects to see a continued reduction of sales. "Sunny" lqbal owns a gas station &
a convenience store. Since COVID he saw a 30% drop in overall store
revenue and lost many customers born after 2000,
Brookline News, Oct. 26, 2023
htt g eneration - law-fac ing -cha lleng e-in -mas- hig hest-
Nicotine does not disturb consciousness, impairjudgement or social behavior and, if anything, it
enhances rather than impairs cognitive and psychomotor performance and the capacity to work.
Professor Michael Russell, British Journal of Addiction, 1991
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