Congratulations to the city of Hallowell for passing a flavored tobacco products ban! Thank you for standing up for youth against Big Tobacco’s lies that flavored products are a safe alternative to traditional tobacco products and they help people quit. This industry deception ensures they can continue to find “replacement users” (their terminology) and make continued high profits. Make no mistake, flavors like Pop Tart and Cotton Candy are intended to get kids hooked, not help adults quit. Almost all lifelong smokers (95%) started using tobacco products before age 21.

If you ask young vape users if they’ve tried flavors, they will tell you all about them and that they thought they wouldn’t get hooked. Most aren’t even aware that vapes contain nicotine. In 2023, over 30% of Maine high school students used e-cigarettes, including vape products, starting younger than age 14. A shocking 96% of them used flavored products. This is data we cannot ignore.

Hallowell’s ordinance is all about kids and the flavors used to entice them. No drug or addictive substance is being prohibited, nor are any nicotine delivery devices, like vape pens and pouches. The ordinance and the statewide bill being considered (L.D. 1215) do not limit how much nicotine can be purchased and how it can be delivered. And adults can continue to use e-cigarettes to reduce the harm of smoking other substances.

Hallowell joins eight Maine municipalities in putting kids first. But we must also continue to work toward a statewide approach. Limiting access to flavors is best practice prevention of nicotine addiction. As adults, it is our responsibility to do everything we can to give Maine’s young people a fighting chance against the tobacco industry. Thank you, city of Hallowell.

Jodi Beck, RN

Board chair, Healthy Communities of the Capital Area

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