Letter: Pass state flavored tobacco ban

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As a health care professional, I’m proud to be writing in support of LD 1215, An Act to End the Sale of Flavored Tobacco, which is currently under consideration in Augusta. This bill represents a real opportunity to protect a generation of young Mainers from becoming lifelong consumers of a product that is both addictive and deadly.

Both in Maine and nationally, efforts to cut cigarette smoking among young people has been one of the true success stories of youth health education, to the point where in the most recent survey of our young people only less than 6 percent of Maine high school students reported smoking a cigarette in the last 30 days versus nearly 18 percent just 15 years ago.

Unfortunately, this hard-won success has been undercut by the emergence of e-cigarettes, which have been used by one in every three Maine high school students. As a result, our students still have a tobacco usage rate that is well above the national average, with one in five high school students in Maine currently using tobacco products.

Let’s not kid ourselves, you don’t market or sell flavors like Bubble Gum, Banana Ice, or Cotton Candy to attract adult smokers. The facts are clear — 90 percent of smokers begin before the age of 18 and four of five young people who ever used tobacco products started with flavored products. Flavored tobacco products are effectively a gateway to lifelong usage for one of the most deadly, addictive products sold in the country. I urge my fellow Mainers to write their legislators and ask them to pass LD 1215.

Stephanie Small
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England
Portland

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