WORCESTER — Cigarettes and other nicotine products will remain available for purchase for those 21 and over in Worcester for the foreseeable future.
On Tuesday, the City Council ended consideration of an order from District 4 City Councilor Luis Ojeda requesting a feasibility report looking into how other Massachusetts municipalities have moved toward eliminating the sale of nicotine products.
Ojeda requested the report include data on potential health benefits, best practices used in other communities and any financial impacts.
Owners and managers of shops that sell nicotine products, as well as an attorney representing them, spoke against the order.
"This is a conversation that needs to be had, because at the end of the day people are dying from this," Ojeda said. "And I'm not pointing anyone out and saying you're the reason why, but we need to have this conversation, let's be honest."
Ojeda is an assistant principal at University Park Campus School.
Business owner weighs in
Nirav Patel, owner of several Family Farms stores, said he employs 30 to 40 people, and that any loss of a major product would ruin his business.
"You take out lottery, we're out of business. You take out tobacco, we're out of business. You take out sodas, we're out of business," Patel said. "Next thing we're going to go after sugar probably because that causes a lot of health issues."
Tarak Patel, a manager at Jay's Smoke Shop, said the city risked a loss of revenue.
"If the city decides to approve, this is a loss to the city also," Tarak Patel said.
Yael Magen, an attorney representing business owners, said the city risked losing hundreds of jobs.
Magen's objections to the order were similar to concerns about generational nicotine restrictions Peter Brennan, executive director of the New England Convenience Store & Energy Marketers Association, shared with the Telegram & Gazette Monday. He maintained that it will not improve public health, that residents would just drive to neighboring cities to buy the products, that it would lead to a black market of less safe products, and that it infringed on the rights of adults.
In 2023, Worcester's Board of Health unanimously voted to cap the number of businesses that can sell tobacco products to 235. Up to 15 permits could go to so-called “smoking bars.” As of October 2023, 234 permits have been issued, including 11 for smoking bars.
Ojeda shares the numbers
When speaking about his order, Ojeda read statistics about the impacts of tobacco use, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figure that cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, about one in every five deaths in the country.
Ojeda also said tobacco companies understand that high school-aged youths and underprivileged communities are key demographics for developing longtime users.
Ojeda referenced Tobacco Free Generation laws adopted by Brookline and several other municipalities. The Brookline law bans the sale of tobacco to anyone born in the 21st century. The Supreme Judicial Court upheld the law in March.
Ojeda said the City of Worcester could set the beginning of such a generational law to those born after 2030 or 2040, so no living people would be subject to the policy.
"I agree that adults should have the right to smoke and be able to do what they way, it's their body," Ojeda said. "But at the same time, it's mentioned that we need to educate the youth. How are we educating? How have these businesses, how have they shown us that they are educating the youth about the results of smoking."
Ojeda said tobacco sellers can say they support youth education, but they also knew about the health risks when they sold cigarettes and the revenue from sales is not going back to education. He added that he has not seen any anti-smoking campaigns as prevalent as campaigns in the past nor a solid anti-smoking education in Worcester schools.
He said he has seen vaping become popular with youths and youths go to the hospital for vaping.
City Council Vice Chair Khrystian King said he appreciated Ojeda's item as a point to discuss health in the city. However, King said his experience is that there is a prevalence of youths vaping marijuana while nicotine use has become less common. He said Ojeda's order felt like "government overreach."
King requested the city manager's office engage in a public service campaign on vaping and engage with a vaping curriculum developed with local youths.
Councilor-at-Large Kathleen Toomey motioned to file, or end consideration, Ojeda's order.
The City Council voted 8-1 in favor of filing Ojeda's request for a feasibility report. Ojeda was the sole vote against filing. Councilor-at-Large Thu Nguyen and District 5 City Council Etel Haxhiaj were not present Tuesday.
Police chief search update
The City Council also sent a request from Mayor Joseph M. Petty to City Manager Eric D. Batista for an update on the status of exempting the positions of chief of police and the deputy chief from the civil service law.
In March, the Worcester City Council unanimously authorized Batista to request the state Legislature approve the exemptions from civil service.
However, the bill has been stuck in the Legislature's joint Committee on Public Service following the end of regular session July 31.
The city has not appointed a permanent chief to succeed Steven M. Sargent since he retired in September 2023. Paul B. Saucier has been serving as chief in an interim capacity for over a year.
Petty said Tuesday that it appears there are a variety of factors for why the exemptions remain stuck on Beacon Hill, but said it appears that other municipalities had an easier time exempting just the chief and question whether the legislation should be amended to separate the exemptions for the chief and the deputy chiefs positions.
Petty asked Batista to see what the process might be to amend their legislation to put the chief position and deputy chiefs positions in separate bills.
District 2 City Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson said she wanted to know what the timeline for getting the exemptions passed would look like. She said she wanted to know how long Saucier has to serve in an interim capacity before he can be hired permanently.
Toomey added that having the stability of a permanent chief is important for officer morale.
"I hope that we can resolve this quickly because ... morale at the department needs to be maintained," Toomey said.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Smoking allowed: Worcester City Council dismisses effort to ban cigarette sales
Local News
