We live in occasions the place the demand for transparency and the distrust of presidency is as excessive because it has been in generations.
Native, state and federal elected officers and policymakers are underneath the microscope each day to ensure they respect democracy and the desire of the folks.
That’s why the current resolution by the Manchester-by-the-Sea Board of Well being to disregard city assembly voters is so egregious.
In November 2024, the Board of Well being – an appointed, not elected board – handed a so-called “nicotine-free technology” (NFG) coverage that eternally bans the sale of tobacco or nicotine merchandise to anybody born after Jan. 1, 2004.
Upon studying of the quietly carried out generational ban, City Assembly voters authorized Warrant Article 19, calling on the board to repeal its NFG regulation, which took impact on April 1. The bulk vote reveals a rising group consensus that the Board overreached and may rescind the restrictions. However the board is refusing to respect the desire of the voters and has as a substitute doubled down, declaring that it’s inside its rights underneath the broad umbrella of public well being.
The folks, nonetheless, have spoken and it’s disrespectful and undemocratic for the board to disregard this vote. Manchester-by-the-Sea residents have a proper to have their voices not solely heard, however revered. By dismissing the City Assembly resolution, the Board of Well being is overstepping its authority and issuing a transparent message that they imagine they know higher than residents.
There are lots of causes for elevated anti-government sentiment within the public discourse and this motion by the Board of Well being is a obvious instance. Whereas looking for methods to curb smoking and youth tobacco use is sweet public coverage, this specific regulation does nothing to attain both aim – and residents apparently agreed.
NFG is a misguided anti-business, anti-civil liberties measure that solely impacts adults over 21. Our retailers are educated to examine IDs on each buy of age-regulated merchandise and have wonderful compliance charges. This coverage places Manchester-by-the-Sea small companies at a major drawback as customers looking for these authorized grownup merchandise will merely drive over the city line to purchase them, or worse, flip to illicit markets, which are sometimes tied to organized crime.
Many communities within the Commonwealth, corresponding to Worcester, Peabody, Milton and Westfield, have rejected NFG for these causes. Manchester-by-the-Sea, nonetheless, is the primary municipality to undertake the coverage after which have voters reject it. Voters within the city rightly expressed concern that NFG would do extra hurt than good whereas hurting native retailers who’re already complying with strict state legal guidelines. One member of the Manchester-by-the-Sea Choose Board criticized the Board of Well being for refusing to reverse the ban, saying the board had “strayed” from its core obligations.
“This ban will solely drive extra companies out of city,” Choose Board member Brian Sollosy stated.
In Bellingham, the problem of NFG will come earlier than the city assembly on Could 28, after the Board of Well being despatched the problem to be voted on by city residents as a substitute of enacting the coverage by decree. The distinction is stark – the Manchester-by-the-Sea well being board offered the NFG coverage to residents as a fait accompli, and rejected a democratic vote to overturn, whereas Bellingham is permitting the tax-paying residents to find out their very own destiny. A novel idea.
This kind of nanny state governing is being more and more rejected as residents search to guard grownup freedoms. As soon as Manchester-by-the-Sea residents realized that the Board of Well being had enacted this coverage, they swiftly voted to repeal it.
The Manchester-by-the-Sea well being board has thumbed its nostril at voters with callous indifference. It’s unacceptable and the board ought to instantly respect the desire of voters and repeal this deeply flawed and discriminatory regulation.
The reality is, this was by no means about public well being. It was about authorities overreach and management. The federal authorities has set the age for tobacco purchases at 21, simply as it’s for alcohol. Adults of authorized age shouldn’t be denied the appropriate to buy authorized merchandise merely due to the yr they had been born.
Much more egregious is the truth that hashish merchandise, together with flamable marijuana cigarettes, will not be lined underneath NFG insurance policies. So which means, in communities with NFG, somebody of authorized age is free to purchase hashish to smoke however can’t buy a nicotine pouch or a cigar for a spherical of golf or a marriage.
NFG is authorities hypocrisy at its worst however extra importantly, in Manchester-by-the-Sea, it’s actually being pressured onto an unwilling populace. That’s not democracy.
Peter Brennan is Govt Director of the New England Comfort Retailer and Vitality Entrepreneurs Affiliation
