In January 2025, Newton’s City Council passed an ordinance so absurd, it could only have been conceived by people who think authority equals wisdom. By a vote of 19 to 4, the Council approved a “generational ban” on tobacco products. Anyone born after March 1, 2004, will never—ever—be allowed to purchase tobacco in the city. Not at 21, not at 35, not at 55. It’s a lifetime prohibition based solely on your birth year.

Let that sink in: a 25-year-old veteran returning to Newton in 2030 could be carded and denied a cigarette because he was born three months too late. Meanwhile, his 31-year-old neighbor lights up with impunity. What starts as a health measure ends in age-based discrimination enshrined in law…….

We’re watching in real time as liberty dies in increments. And if you think this ends with cigarettes, you’re not paying attention.

Government’s job is not to raise us like children. Its job is to protect equal rights under the law—not to carve out favored and disfavored classes of adults based on the whims of unelected committees. And make no mistake: this is discrimination. Arbitrary. Age-based. Permanent.

Newton’s ordinance won’t stop smoking. It will push it underground. It will hurt local businesses. And it will give moral busybodies another lever of control. It’s not about health. It’s about hubris.