Attleboro, Mass. Eyes Tobacco Purchasing Age Raise

Attleboro could become the latest in a long list of Massachusetts cities that has raised the minimum age to purchase tobacco to 21.

According to WJAR, the Attleboro Health Department is looking to raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco to 21. If it chooses to do so, that will be the new law as the Health Department needs neither the approval of the city council or the public.

Attleboro would join roughly 60 municipalities in the state who have raised the minimum age to purchase tobacco to 21. Two pediatricians, Dr. Lester Hartman and Dr. Jonathan Winickoff, have led a localized movement to raise the minimum age throughout the state. In addition, a variety of statewide measures have been proposed, as well as similar legislation on the federal level.

Next year, Hawaii will become the first state to see the minimum age raised to 21, but nowhere has the battle been more active than in Massachusetts.

Attleboro is locate in Bristol County in the southeastern part of the state, about 40 miles south of Boston. It has a population over 40,000.