Updated Nov. 25
Tisbury is looking to implement stricter regulations for tobacco sellers, which would prevent more shops from selling tobacco in the town.
On Nov. 18, the Tisbury board of health unanimously approved changes to its tobacco bylaws that increase the mandatory distance of smoke shops from schools, and the number of licenses the town can hand out. The decision was made at the Tisbury Town Hall Annex, but the Zoom link in the agenda didn’t match the public hearing notice, so the board plans to redo the hearing on Dec. 16.
Drew Belsky, Tisbury health agent, said down-Island towns were notified in the spring by officials from the Cape Cod Regional Tobacco Control Program, which Vineyard towns are a part of, and the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards that their bylaws needed to be updated to catch up to state regulations. Oak Bluffs and Edgartown have since updated their bylaws, but Belsky said Tisbury waited until the seat of health board member Michael Loberg, who stepped down earlier this year due to health issues, was filled, in order to have a full board before it held a public hearing.
The new regulations the Tisbury health board wants to implement would prohibit a tobacco seller from operating within 1,000 feet of schools — double the previous 500 feet. This increase is still half the distance adopted by Oak Bluffs and Edgartown. Belsky said Tisbury wants to adopt a shorter distance because all of Main Street and roughly half of the town’s B2 business district are 2,000 feet from a school, so following the Oak Bluffs and Edgartown model “cripples [a tobacco seller’s] potential places of business.”
Additionally, health officials want to decrease the number of tobacco licenses Tisbury can issue from seven to four, which is the total number of businesses currently selling tobacco in town. Businesses will still be able to transfer or sell their licenses. If a business owner decides to do neither and just drops the license, then the number of licenses that can be awarded by the town would decrease by the same amount.
The Vineyard towns’ strengthening regulations on tobacco sellers follows a statewide trend of clamping down on tobacco use among children. A growing number of communities are adding restrictions for sellers, and a bill was introduced in the state legislature in February proposing to ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born in or after 2006.
Belsky said only one person showed up to the Nov. 18 hearing, and was concerned about the use of ZYN, a nicotine pouch product, by minors. Belsky said town and state regulations seem to have prevented ZYN from “getting much of a hold,” since it can only be sold to individuals 21 or older, and Tisbury has banned the sale of flavored tobacco products.
The woman who spoke felt better after hearing that if a child got hold of a tobacco product, at least it wouldn’t be from a Tisbury store, Belsky said. “We’re doing everything we can to prevent that,” he said.
Updated with a new date for the public hearing.
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