Add Danvers to the list of more than 50 cities and towns in Massachusetts that have increased the minimum age to purchase tobacco products to 21-years-old, as the city’s board of health improved the increase at its most recent meeting. The decision to increase the minimum age was a unanimous one, according to Wicked Local. Cigars must also now carry a minimum price of $2.50 if sold individually, and all self-serve displays of tobacco products are now banned. Additionally, the board expanded its definition of what is considered a tobacco product, expanding it to include electronic cigarettes, vaping devices and hookahs. Sales of tobacco products in hospitals and educational institutions are also now banned, as are sales within 500 feet of a school. The board is also making it tougher for new retailers to get tobacco sales permits and will be conducting random inspections as well as fining retailers in violation with an initial fine of $100 and seven-day suspension of their license that goes up to $300 and a permanent suspension of their license for repeat offenders. Danvers has a population of approximately 27,000 people and is located in the northeastern corner of the state, about 20 miles north of Boston.
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