Massachusetts Highlights

Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States and in Massachusetts. To address this enormous toll, the American Lung Association calls for the following actions to be taken by Massachusetts' elected officials:

Massachusetts continues to be a leader nationwide in tobacco control efforts. Six years have passed since laws making the Bay State the first in the nation to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products went into full effect. Fortunately, there were no successful legislative efforts in 2025 to roll back this comprehensive measure. Communities across the Commonwealth have experienced an increase in tobacco industry interference in the form of new emerging products such as “non-menthol” products that have the properties and characteristics of menthol products. Local Boards of Health and community advocates are working to address these illegal product sales through increased compliance checks and retailer education. The industry continues to push back with false claims that these products are not included in the Massachusetts flavor restriction.

Upon first introduction, the Governor's Budget did not specifically earmark funding to the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program (MTCP). Thanks to advocacy from the Lung Association and our state partners, amendments to the budget included an earmark, successfully increasing the MTCP budget to over $6.2 million, up roughly $18,000 from the prior fiscal year. Even with this budget increase, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts severely underfunds the MTCP based on the recommendations of the CDC. In April, the 84 Movement, Massachusetts' premier youth tobacco prevention program, held their annual advocacy day urging their elected officials to close the synthetic nicotine pouch tax loophole and increase funding.

In 2025, communities across the Commonwealth continued to gain momentum passing numerous “Nicotine-Free Generation” birthdate policies following the Massachusetts Supreme Court upholding the Brookline, MA policy that restricts the sale of tobacco products to anyone born on or after January 1, 2000. To date, 17 municipalities have followed Brookline's lead passing similar legislation and many more are in the process of doing the same and are experiencing tobacco industry intimidation.

During the 2025 state legislative session, a statewide ‘nicotine-free generation' bill was introduced and had its first committee hearing in July. However, separate legislation that received a committee hearing in October would specifically preempt local communities from passing nicotine-free generation policies and set the state tobacco sales age at 21.

As the Massachusetts Legislature begins its work in 2026, the American Lung Association will continue to work with our state coalition partners to advance tobacco control and prevention efforts and defend our successful programs and policies against rollbacks.