Boston Public Health Commission is proposing some of the nation’s strictest smoking regulations; banning the sale of cigarettes at drugstores and on college campuses, and shutting down the city’s 10 cigar and hookah bars by 2013.
The commission said, the goal is to discourage young people from buying tobacco products, to keep a harmful product out of stores that promote health, and to protect employees who are exposed to secondhand smoke.
The Board of Health will vote on the regulations on Nov. 13. If approved they will take effect within 60 days.
“Should tobacco be treated as any other consumer good? No,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of the Board of Health. “We do not sell guns everywhere, we do not sell alcohol everywhere and we do not need to be selling tobacco everywhere. They are all dangerous products, and they all require regulation.”
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