I have been involved in tobacco prevention and control for at least 30 years, but over the years I have been consistently impressed by the creativity and determination of the tobacco industry to assure the continued use of its products. Filter-tips have been introduced, women have been persuaded to believe that tobacco made them glamourous, and through it all the tragic and needless deaths have continued. But in some ways, the introduction of flavored tobacco products has been the most creative and deadly invention of them all.

With flavored products the Industry can lure in the very best customers, youth, and create a strong addiction before someone is even out of high school. For the health of Maine’s next generation, the invention of flavored tobacco products has been a public health disaster and we have been “asleep at the switch” until now. A bill, currently under consideration in the Maine legislature, LD 1550, would ban these deadly products in Maine.

In 2020 the leading killer in Maine was not COVID, but heart disease, followed by cancer, both strongly linked to tobacco use. Continuing to turn a blind eye to the addiction of Maine youth through flavored products will almost guarantee that health care resources will continue to be overwhelmed by preventable illness. This is especially true for the rural parts of Maine, where the healthcare system is already fragmented and fragile.

It has been said that if we ban these products, we may lose tax revenue. Aside from being an amazingly cynical argument, it seems like a price worth paying for a new generation of healthy Mainers.

Lani Graham,
Freeport