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Uxbridge Board of Health debates scope of tobacco enforcement after withdrawal of warning is recorded in state database
Summary
Board members, tobacco-control agents and the Board's attorney discussed whether a prior vote to withdraw a warning effectively removes an inspection from the state record; staff said inspections and photos remain in the state database though the board's hearing outcome can be recorded.
The Uxbridge Board of Health spent its April meeting clarifying how local enforcement interacts with the state's tobacco-inspection system, after the board voted at a prior meeting not to issue a formal order in a coupon-advertising case.
Joan Hamlet, director of the Tobacco Control Alliance and the town's delegated tobacco agent, told the board her program provides education, youth-access checks, retail inspections and enforcement on behalf of towns that sign onto the alliance. "We are a free tobacco control agent... we provide tobacco inspection, education, and services for you," Hamlet said, describing a largely education-focused approach that reserves fines as a last resort.
Hamlet and other staff explained that a 2020 state law increased penalties…
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