Board of Aldermen 04-09-2019 Page 13
case, more and more Nicotine must be taken to reproduce the same initial effects on the body and now on
the brain. That is why trying to break the cycle of tobacco, the use and addiction is extremely difficult. The
known physical ill effects and consequences of Nicotine use causes cancer, hypertension, stroke and etc to
name just a few that are taken over by the brain’s false thinking that it needs more and more regardless of
the continuing damage of the Nicotine upon the body itself.
The adolescent brain does not fully mature until 25 and so it at more risk than the adult brain to be fooled
by this negative impact and this cycle that is very sneaky and this very bad home invader. Since the
younger brain, under 25, continues to build better and faster driveways or synapses between nerve cells
than the older one, the addiction potential is that much stronger and that much deadlier.
He apologizes for the length of this letter but is in full support of the passage of O-19-037 to raise the
tobacco purchasing age of 21 without hesitation to allow the developing brains of our future leaders, as we
have heard from a couple of youth here this evening of tomorrow who will someday be sitting in these
seats; the same seats that you occupy tonight. More valuable time to not be exposed and traumatized by
this powerful and dangerous drug. Dr. Cappetta says that he is available to meet and talk with anyone
about the things that he has submitted in this letter. Thank you.
Ben Bolen Good evening, my name is Ben Bolen and | am from South Hampton, New Hampshire. | am the
Director of Operations of Rapid Refill. | will keep this brief, | promise. As | mentioned at a previous
meeting we have a convenience store here in Nashua. We are adamantly opposed to cities and towns
unilaterally moving the legal age to purchase tobacco to 21. It unfairly impacts licensed retailers in the city
and does little to reduce youth access It will also result in a loss of a sales which in turn reduces labor
hours that we were able to allocate to our dedicated employees
| will reiterate what | said last month which is that we have a proven process in place that educates our
employees on how to effectively sell age restricted products. In closing and to be clear, we would fully
support moving the legal age to purchase tobacco to 271 if it is done State-Wide and enacted at the same
time. Thank you.
Vinayak Graves It’s Vinayak Graves, | live at 23 Serotta Ave., Nashua, New Hampshire. Thank you to the
Honorable Board of Aldermen and to my fellow Nashua residents for sacrificing your evening for this
important cause. As | said | have been living here for 11 years, | am currently a high school freshman and |
am attending an on-line accredited academy for the last 4 years. So | know we’ve already heard a lot of
statistics tonight so we could be here all night if | go over them all over again. So | want to give you a quick
personal experience.
Two years ago, my eldest sibling entered high school a bright and enthusiastic student. He was a part of
the National Juniors Honors, he had a perfect GPA. Slowly he transitioned from “I only tried it once” to “It
helps relax me” until finally he developed an addiction to vaping. | would to let you all Know that going into
high school he wanted to be a lawyer, now today due to the effects of vaping, his mental health has
suffered greatly and he is no longer even able to attend the local high school. Numerous times he told me
“You can get anything you want at high school” so this is not just about the smoking and the health; this is a
business in these schools that these kids, these young children are making into a business.
Raising the age from 18 to 21 for the purchase and possession of tobacco products could prevent brilliant
students like my brother from going down the dark road of addiction. It would prevent 18 year old high
school students from buying and distributing harmful tobacco products to younger students. According to
the American Lung Association every day roughly 2,500 children under the age of 18 will try their first
cigarette; 400 of them will transition to becoming regular day smokers and half of them will eventually die
from their habit. If this problem continues and we fail to put precautions in place, an estimated 5.6 million of
today’s youth will ultimately die prematurely from smoking-related diseases.
As we've heard earlier tonight, many people have said this will not 100% fix the issue of smoking and that
is true. It is not 100% going to fix the issue of smoking; but the fact is that if this Bill can save one life, then
