LYNN — The Lynn Board of Health prepared to update the penalties imposed for tobacco-sale violations at its most recent meeting.
The board voted unanimously on Tuesday to allow North Shore Cape Ann Tobacco Policy Program Director Joyce Redford to draft new penalties for violating the city’s tobacco restrictions.
Public Health Director Lisa Tobin said the tobacco regulations would be updated to include a one-tier fining structure similar to what other local communities have. She said that the city’s current two-tier fining structure is causing some confusion.
“Because the tobacco regulations have been in effect for numerous years now, and all retailers should fully understand the regulations, what constitutes a violation, and the enforcement action that will occur based on the violation, it makes sense to no longer have a two-tier fining structure,” Tobin said at the meeting.
Massachusetts General Laws state that a person who sells or provides tobacco products to a person less than 21 years old will be punished by a fine of $1,000 for the first offense, $2,000 for a second offense, and $5,000 for a third or subsequent offense within a three-year period. Tobin said local municipalities are not allowed to reduce the state’s minimum penalties.
Lynn follows the state regulations, but Tobin said Lynn has “upped” its regulations by prohibiting the sale of cigar wraps, banning the sale of tobacco products at education facilities, and requiring minimum cigar pricing.
Currently, violations of these restrictions carry a $100 fine for a first offense, a $200 fine for a second offense, and a $300 fine for subsequent offenses.
“To keep track of those different fine structures is cumbersome,” Redford said at the meeting.
Community Health Worker Supervisor Mulika Champigny gave a lung cancer presentation during the meeting. She outlined statistics from 2021 that revealed that a higher percentage of deaths in Lynn were due to lung cancer than in the state as a whole and emphasized that smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer.
In Lynn, there were 818 total deaths in 2021. Of those, 37 were caused by lung cancer, which made up 4.5% of all deaths. In 2021, there were 63,158 deaths in Massachusetts and 2,733 lung cancer deaths, accounting for 4.3% of all deaths in the state.
While there were more total deaths — 894 — in Lynn in 2020 than in 2021, 2020 saw just 31 deaths that were caused by lung cancer in the city. That year, 3.47% of all deaths in Lynn were caused by lung cancer.
“So there seems to be an increase of lung cancer deaths from 2020 to 2021,” Champigny said.
In Saugus, 21 of the town’s 337 deaths, or 6.23%, in 2021 were because of lung cancer. That year, lung cancer was the cause of 4.13% of deaths in Peabody, 1.72% of deaths in Swampscott, 1.06% of deaths in Lynnfield, and 8% of deaths in Nahant.
The Board of Health will have to schedule a public hearing before the new restrictions can be approved.
Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States and Massachusetts, according to the American Lung Association.
The American Lung Association released its 2024 State of Tobacco Control report cards for each state on Jan. 24, assigning letter grades A through F to each state for five key areas: tobacco prevention and cessation funding, smokefree air, tobacco taxes, access to cessation services, and flavored tobacco products.
Massachusetts received a failing grade for its tobacco prevention and cessation funding, although it received As and Bs in the other categories.
