Bellingham Board of Health Moves Tobacco Regulation Toward Town Meeting Vote

BELLINGHAM — January 21, 2025 — Bellingham Board of Health votes to send tobacco control regulation to town meeting while kratom rules remain unresolved. The board unanimously approved submitting a rewritten tobacco control regulation — modeled on Brookline's framework but structured as a Board of Health rule for direct enforcement authority — to the May town meeting warrant, with a birth-year cutoff of 2004 establishing a de facto minimum-age threshold of 21. Agent Dylan Lonti reported that at least five Bellingham businesses currently sell kratom and that one owner is considering opening a kratom-smoothie bar, prompting concern about liability and underage access. Town counsel advised waiting to see whether Lowell's recently enacted kratom regulation survives a legal challenge before Bellingham acts. The board also approved $670 in January Visiting Nurse Association services and accepted its 2024 annual report.