Massachusetts Town Weighs Nation's First Tobacco Ban
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN HOST: All you parents out there, I promise you, you're not going to be able to turn away from our feature story today. You know, it's just been three weeks since the latest school shooting in this country. That was in Marysville, Washington. In less than a month, we'll be marking the somber anniversary of Sandy Hook. In just a few minutes, I'm going to tell you the story of the young man whose parents called the police about him. They were worried his mental illness may drive him to hurt somebody. But what happened next will either make you more confident in our system or it will break your heart. Will you consider him a prisoner or a patient? But first, a tiny Massachusetts town is weighing a ban that would make it the first in the country to completely outlaw tobacco sales of any kind. Now, residents on both sides of this issue -- well, let's just they're pretty fired up. In fact, the public hearing Wednesday night in Westminster was really over before it began. Here's John Atwater of our affiliate WCVB.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. This hearing is closed.</s>JOHN ATWATER, WCVB (voice-over): Within minutes of starting --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Read it now!</s>ATWATER: The board of health lost control of the enraged crowd. Police stepped in to control passionate protesters and escort board members to their cars.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You people make me sick.</s>ATWATER: The abruptly adjourned public hearing drew heated, pointed criticism of a proposal to ban tobacco sales at stores in town.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This meeting with all these cameras here is a mockery of this town in front of the United States of America.</s>ATWATER: Westminster has found itself in the national spotlight. The first town in the country that is one vote away from taking an unprecedented position on tobacco.</s>BRIAN VINCENT, OWNER, VINCENT'S COUNTRY STORE: About 21 years in the family.</s>ATWATER: For Brian Vincent who runs the store in the town, the proposed ban could sink sales.</s>VINCENT: It's not a $10 pack, that's total $30 sale.</s>ANDREA CRETE, CHAIRWOMAN, WESTMINSTER BOARD OF HEALTH: Our main focus on developing these regulations is the children in our community.</s>ATWATER: The three-member board of health says is trying to keep kids from new, sweeter tobacco products.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three people should not dictate a town of 7,000.</s>ATWATER: But nearly everyone in this town feels a ban would limit their freedom.</s>CROWD (singing): God bless America --</s>ATWATER: And they used a patriotic song to loudly proclaim their position.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you start taking people's rights away to consume legal products, they're going to get fired up.</s>GUPTA: You've never seen anything quite like. You might remember, earlier this year, CVS drugstores stopped selling tobacco in their stores as well. It was controversial, maybe not as much as Westminster. But I'll tell you, some people say, you know, this whole thing hasn't gone far enough. I mean, some people say, what about candy? Junk food? Sugary drinks? It's a fair point. But, you know, unlike food, tobacco has absolutely no redeeming qualities. None. No calories, no nutrition, nothing. What we do know it's associated with nearly half a million deaths per year in the United States and smokers on average live 10 years less. It was just 50 years ago, the surgeon general made the firm connection between smoking and cancer.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Make your own 30-day Camel mildest test in your t- zone.</s>GUPTA (voice-over): During smoking's hay day back in the 1940s and '50s, ads like this were common place.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What cigarette do you smoke, doctor? In this nationwide survey of general practitioners, surgeons, specialists, diagnosticians and so on, the brand named most was Camel.</s>GUPTA: By 1950, American adults were smoking 4,000 cigarettes for every person every year. But in 1952, "Reader's Digest", then the country's most popular magazine, published a two-page article, "Cancer by the Carton". It was the first time a mainstream publication like this connected smoking to cancer. In 1955, the Federal Trade Commission forbade company from making positive health claims about cigarettes, blocking ads like this from Phillip Morris, scientifically proved, less irritating to the smoker's nose and throat.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Federal Trade Commission and "Reader's Digest" have done you a favor.</s>GUPTA: It's the moment that helped to launch fictional ad wiz, Don Draper, on ANC's "Mad Men."</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We say anything we want. How do you make your cigarettes?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We breed insect repellant tobacco seeds, plant them in the North Carolina sunshine, grow it, cut it, cure it, toast it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go. There you go.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But everybody else's tobacco is toasted?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, everybody else's tobacco is poisonous, Lucky Strike's -- is toasted.</s>GUPTA: In fact that was an actual Lucky Strikes slogan in real life. But evidence of harm became overwhelming. On January 11th, 1964, Dr. Luther Kerry issued the very first surgeon general's report.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The strongest relationship between cigarette smoking and health was in the field of lung cancer --</s>GUPTA: A strong relationship, just how strong? He reported a 70 percent increase in mortality for smokers, heavy smokers at least 20 times more likely to develop lung cancer than nonsmokers. The first warning on the pack in 1966 was a milestone, but also a major understatement. Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health. Today, it gets right to the point. It causes lung cancer, heart disease and more.</s>GUPTA: Lastly, something I always like to tell people who are thinking about quitting, that is, you don't have to wait years to see the benefits. In fact, just 20 minutes after your last cigarette, your heart rate, your blood pressures starts to drop. In 24 hours, your heart disease risk actually goes down. Two weeks later, your lung function improves and you'll feel better. After five years, your cancer risk declines. In fact, at 20 years, according to studies, your overall risk is comparable to a non-smoker. So, it's a good idea to quit. Need some tools and tips, you can get them at smokefree.gov. Now, coming up, as promised, putting an end to mass shooting. What does that mean in this country? Our year-long investigation into the mind of a troubled young man incarcerated for a crime police say he was plotting but he says he wasn't really going to commit.