Minimum Age to Buy Tobacco in Hamilton Raised to 21

HAMILTON, MA – As of this month, you must be 21 or older to buy tobacco products in Hamilton, and "blunt wraps" and flavored tobacco products can no longer be sold in town.

In June, the Board of Health voted to increase the minimum age to buy cigarettes and other tobacco products. The regulation went into effect on Oct. 1. Part of the regulation prohibits the sale of "blunt wraps," which it defines as "any tobacco product manufactured or packaged as a wrap or as a hollow tube made wholly or in part from tobacco that is designed or intended to be filled by the consumer with loose tobacco or other fillers."

The sale of flavored tobacco products is also prohibited under the regulation, except in smoking bars and adult-only retail tobacco stores. Hamilton's formal definition of flavored tobacco products include any tobacco product or component that contains something that produces "a characterizing flavor."

The regulation cites the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's assertion that "nicotine is as addictive as cocaine or heroin," and the U.S. Department of Health's finding that nicotine exposure during adolescence may adversely affect brain development.

E-cigarettes are included in the regulation's definition of a nicotine delivery product. Stores that sell tobacco products in Hamilton are required to display a sign at least 8.5 by 11 inches that states that "The sale of nicotine delivery products to someone under the minimum legal sales age of 21 years of age is prohibited."

Hamilton has six Tobacco and Nicotine Delivery Product sales permits. Violations of the permit holder will result in a $100 fine on first offense, and a $200 fine and permit suspension on second offense, if it should occur within two years of the first offense.

Read the entire regulation here.

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