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Debate Drags: Legal nicotine age remains cloudy issue as board mulls ordinance

By Adam Urquhart - Staff Writer | May 8, 2019

Telegraph photo by MATHEW PLAMONDON While Nashua officials continue to discuss an ordinance on smoking that would raise the minimum age for allowing an individual to buy nicotine products from 18 to 21, John Ramos and Kevin Cotter kick back with a couple of cigars at Castro’s Back Room on Tuesday afternoon.

NASHUA — Even if city leaders reject an ordinance to outlaw mere possession of tobacco and other nicotine products by those under age 21, Democrats in the New Hampshire Legislature may soon impose the regulation statewide.

Nashua Board of Aldermen member Patricia Klee also serves in the state House of Representatives. During the Monday Nashua Personnel and Administrative Affairs Committee meeting, Klee said state Senate Bill 248 will be considered in the fall and voted on in January.

A quick review of this Senate bill by The Telegraph shows that it states: “No person under 21 years of age shall purchase, attempt to purchase, possess, or use any tobacco product, e-cigarette, or liquid nicotine.”

“On a state level, I’ll be the first in line to vote for this bill,” Klee said during the Monday committee meeting. “On a city level, I have a real issue with it. I’m not an expert. I can’t say that it will or won’t have a major impact, but I can tell you that I’m a firm believer that if an 18-year-old is now selling to a 15-year-old in school or on the streets, or anything else like that, the fact that they can’t buy it in Nashua and have to go to Hudson is not going to curtail them in any way, shape or form because that kind of a person is that kind of a person.”

Klee said she has watched both of her parents die from cancer, while her brother has bladder cancer and continues to smoke. However, she told board members she will not vote for the Nashua ordinance, emphasizing her belief that it should be a state matter.

Monday, committee members voted to send the original ordinance back to the BOA for consideration, though the committee made no recommendation as to whether the board should vote in favor of the ordinance or against it.

The next regular Nashua BOA meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Aldermanic Chamber of City Hall, 229 Main St.

As written, the Nashua ordinance outlaws anyone under age 21 from using, purchasing, selling or even possessing cigarettes, cigars, snuff or chewing tobacco, or any type of vaping product. An initial violation can result in a fine of up to $50, while subsequent citations can go as high as $100.

Nashua Alderman Ernest Jette introduced the ordinance in February.

“Most of the jurisdictions do not punish possession; it’s just the purchase or sale of the products,” he said Monday.

Meanwhile, vaping nicotine products continues to run rampant in middle and high schools throughout the state. City leaders said this ordinance came about as a way of curtailing such behavior.

Board of Aldermen Vice President Michael O’Brien is also a member of the New Hampshire House. He agrees with Klee in that this is a state issue. For him, if this ordinance is mainly aiming to address the nicotine usage on school grounds in the city, he does not know why the piece of legislation is in the Aldermanic Chamber. He said this is a discussion that should be taken up by the Nashua Board of Education. He went on to note that New Hampshire’s license plates have the state motto, “Live Free or Die,” and said it’s a choice.

While O’Brien and Klee believe this is a state issue, Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja said she is going to support this ordinance in the interest of promoting community health.

“It is “Live Free or Die,’ but when people engage in behaviors that impact health, we all pay for that,” Melizzi-Golja said. “That impacts all of our costs, and so it’s not without cost to all of us, and you’re really not living free. If you end up with emphysema or lung cancer and you’re no longer working and the state is providing home health care for you, and all sorts of other services to support you and your family, you’re really not living free. We’re all supporting you.”

Meanwhile, Alderwoman Linda Harriott-Gathright, herself also a state representative, believes something needs to be done, but does not support city action. For her, education is the most important thing in addressing the issue. She said most of the young people in the age group this ordinance targets are economically disadvantaged, including many who are members of minority groups.

“In my opinion, not just in Nashua but even in the state, we’re doing a lot to try to keep our young people out of the court system,” Harriott-Gathright said. “So, for me, I see this as another way of putting them right back. We have done so much, really to keep them out of the court system, and we’re getting ready to put them right back.”

While some believe this ordinance is the wrong way to go about addressing youth nicotine problems, others who support it are split on which version to pass, the original or the one with proposed amendments.

Alderman Tom Lopez supports the original version, while Alderman-At-Large Ben Clemons wants the proposed amendments. Those amendments were to include:

• Removing the possession restriction to just prohibit sales, purchase, distribution and use;

• Grandfathering in those who already are between the ages of 18 and 20 so they would be exempt from the regulation; and

• Exempt online, mail, or telephone sales by which the delivery of the product would be to people in a jurisdiction where it is legal to do this.

The proposed amendments would also include alternatives to the fines, such as participating in an education program or doing some sort of community service.

However, these amendments are not part of the ordinance as it now exists, so they would have to be added through an official action.

Alderwoman-At-Large Shoshanna Kelly supports the original version, while Alderman Richard Dowd said he would support either version.

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