Framingham's Cumberland Farms calls for clear tobacco regulations
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With legislation to raise the state's tobacco-buying age to 21 passed by the Senate and pending before the House, regional convenience store chain Cumberland Farms is urging state representatives to adopt "clear and unambiguous" tobacco regulations.
A letter delivered to House lawmakers last week and signed by more than 1,000 managers and store employees of the Framingham-based chain said workers want their tobacco compliance efforts to be "second-nature."
"But as it stands now, we are instead forced to juggle hundreds of different and constantly-changing local requirements related to pricing, packaging, signage, product bans, licensing, display methods, age verification procedure, employee training, recordkeeping, disposal plans and more," the letter said.
Supporters of the tobacco bill (S 2269/H 4361) have said its provisions -- including a three-year increase in the purchase age, a ban on tobacco sales at pharmacies, and e-cigarette regulations -- will help keep youth from becoming addicted to nicotine.
More than 100 of the state's 351 municipalities have raised their tobacco age to 21.
Cumberland Farms takes no position on hiking the tobacco age, but notes that current versions of the bill would not prevent cities and towns from additionally raising it. The bill, company executives write in a second letter, "would provide no meaningful relief" to the "increasingly chaotic patchwork of municipal regulations."
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