‘No Smoking’ on Barnstable Beaches Includes Pot

tobaccoBARNSTABLE – The Town of Barnstable is considering an overhaul of the town’s tobacco policy and that also includes medical marijuana.

The proposed policy re-classifies e-cigarettes under smoking regulations, but the town does not have to do the same with marijuana.

Barnstable follows the Town of Yarmouth in making new rules for the minimum age to purchase e-cigarettes, raising the age from 18 to 21.

Some residents have asked about how the legalization of medical marijuana would impact the proposed changes.

Board of Health Chairman Dr. Wayne Miller said the town does not need to take any action, because the state has already done so.

“Somebody did notice that we didn’t specifically refer to medical marijuana in this new regulation but there’s no need to because it’s already included in the state law that instituted it,” Miller said.

That means that smoking marijuana falls under the same rules as smoking cigarettes or e-cigarettes in the Town of Barnstable–all the same prohibitions apply.

The major proposed change would be to raise the minimum purchase age of smoking products from 18 to 21.

The town of Barnstable several years ago banned smoking at the town’s beaches.

“The way the medical marijuana bill is written, it classifies medical marijuana in the same category as tobacco products and therefore where ever tobacco product smoking is banned, medical marijuana smoking is also banned,” Miller said.

 



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