Indoor use ban attempt in Adams, MA forthcoming

[Placebo Effect]

Adams Board Of Health Eye E-Cigarette Ban / iBerkshires.com - The Berkshires online guide to events, news and Berkshire County community information.

"I'm an ex-smoker and I know you start out light and then want more and more and more," Board of Health member Roy Thompson said. "I see it as a starter kit."

Thompson argued that it is not intended to help smokers quit but instead "corporate America" is using the loopholes to grow a sales base.

...

Rubel gave the board a model tobacco regulation it could adopt that would restrict the sale and usage of electronic cigarettes. The template was given to Rubel by DJ Wilson, tobacco control director for the Massachusetts Municipal Association, and can be tweaked to fit the town's wants. It is not easy to just add the electronic cigarettes into the current policy, Rubel said.

For most of the board, Wednesday was the first time they had heard of the product. Members said they will do more research into the project before taking any action.

There are only three members of this Board of Health -- Jim Thompson, Patricia Clairmont ( paclairmont@hotmail.com), and Richard Frost. Contact info is unavailable for the others.

According to one source, Richard Frost was just elected to a vacant seat on the Board of Health after garnering 50 votes in a write-in campaign.

Edit: Just spoke to Jim Thompson and he seems like an upstanding guy who was merely reacting to e-cigarettes after just hearing about them for the first time. His biggest beef was with them not being banned to minors. The Board of Health requests that letters (just one is fine, they'll be copied and sent to all Committee members) be sent to:

Adams Board of Health
8 Park Street
Adams, MA 01220

 

[Jxnbklyn9]

Interesting, I live in Berkshire county, seems like they are being pretty small minded about e-cigarettes, unfortunate because they could save millions of lives.

 

[rothenbj]

I sent an email to Patricia, attaching an email I sent to Dr Gartner in Australia about E Cigs, snus and harm reduction. I asked that she share it with the other members of the board. Hopefully it will help.

 

[Placebo Effect]

CASAA sent a letter with our legislative packet to the Adams Board of Health, which should have been distributed to them by now. They held a meeting tonight. I'm going to inquire within the next couple days about whether they plan to pursue an indoor use ban.