State Law Would Ban Nicotine In Tobacco

The state House quietly passed a measure that would ban nicotine in all tobacco products in Massachusetts by 2002.

The idea faces a long haul through the Legislature after the House added it without debate Thursday to the proposed state budget for next year.

Walker Merryman, vice president of the industry’s Tobacco Institute, said he hadn’t heard of any state trying to ban nicotine from tobacco products.

“I suppose it’s theoretically possible,” he said, noting that nicotine is found naturally in tobacco.