Brookline’s tobacco sales bylaw upheld in Mass. SJC ruling

Massachusetts’ highest court has upheld a generational ban on tobacco sales in Brookline.

A bylaw took effect in 2021 prohibiting the sale of tobacco to anyone born after Jan. 1, 2000.

“By affirming a lower court’s dismissal of the tobacco industry’s challenge of the bylaw, the state’s highest court validated the town’s legitimate interest in mitigating tobacco use overall, and in particular the case of minors,” Brookline Town Counsel Joe Callanan said in a statement Friday. “Municipalities have a leading role to play in protecting the public health, and especially here, protecting young people from the dangers of tobacco products.”

“The SJC has today handed a victory to public health leaders who have been searching for a way out — a way for our next generation to avoid falling victim to the many pitfalls of tobacco use,” Health and Human Services Director Sigalle Reiss added.

The town says the tobacco industry filed a lawsuit against the bylaw, with the challenge being dismissed by the trial court in October of 2022.