Barnstable Board of Health Votes to Restrict Flavored Nicotine Products

HYANNIS – Barnstable has become the first town on Cape Cod to restrict the sale of all flavored tobacco and nicotine products.

The Board of Health voted unanimously this week to limit the sale of flavored products to stores that require customers to be 21 or older, including specialty tobacco and vape shops.

The goal of the restriction is to prevent the products from reaching teenagers.

Cape Cod Healthcare Surgeon Jeff Spillane says youth usage of e-cigarette devices has become an epidemic and it is important to understand what is happening in middle schools and high schools.

“I have met 6^th graders who are vaping,” Spillane said. “By my best estimate, 40 percent of our high school kids in Massachusetts have vaped within the last month.”

Spillane said it is no different for students in Barnstable.

“This is frankly a countrywide problem,” he said.

A University of Michigan Monitoring the Future study indicates that 1.3 million new teens began vaping between 2017 and 2018.

Spillane said teenagers don’t regarding vaping as smoking.

“Smoking is gross to them,” he said. “But they are vaping and it is an alarming epidemic.”

Tobacco Treatment Specialist Adam Liss at Cape Stress Reduction & Optimal Health said e-cigarette devices have an incredible potential to help adults quit smoking.

Liss has recently been working at a school with vaping teens.

“The teens I have worked with have basically never smoked a cigarette. They have only vaped,” Liss said.

He said it is essential for the community to find a way to limit access to flavored pods that attract teenagers.

“They don’t believe it is bad for them and they believe, just like any other nicotine addict, that they can stop in time before any damage will be done,” Liss said.

Attorneys for groups of local convenience stores argued for more education rather than a sales restriction.

Rickey Patel, the owner of C.B. Perkins tobacco shop in Hyannis, said the restriction will be effective as a solution to stop youth from becoming addicted to nicotine products.

“This is a health crisis and it is effecting a lot of the youth,” Patel said.

The restriction is set to begin June 29, but may be delayed to allow stores to sell current inventory.

By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter