The Press Herald’s May 24 lead editorial, “Our View: Stop tobacco companies from targeting youth,” reflects the uninformed, activist rhetoric around this important issue and overlooks many important facts.

As we have learned throughout history, government prohibition does not work. A ban on flavored tobacco will not discourage use among young people. Those products are already illegal for people under the age of 21 to purchase. As an operator of 22 locations throughout Maine, I know that menthol cigarettes are not marketed “almost exclusively toward Black youth,” as the editorial states. That is a completely baseless claim.

A ban on products preferred by adults, like menthol cigarettes and wintergreen dip, will just drive consumers and revenue across the border or to the criminal market, just as it has in Massachusetts. Banning these products, while the state is proposing a 100 percent increase in tobacco taxes, will lead to a massive spike in cross-border smuggling. Maine businesses and our employees will suffer losses. Worse, by banning certain nicotine vaping devices, Maine will be taking less harmful alternatives away from those struggling to quit cigarettes.

As we have heard many times over the past year, we must “trust science.” According to an essay published in the journal Science, “Careful analysis of all the data in context indicates that the net benefits of vaped nicotine products outweigh the feared harm to youth.” Maine’s health policy should be rooted in scientific data. Emotional rhetoric from special interests who are pushing a fear campaign against nicotine vapor is harming public health and Maine’s businesses.

Chris Beaulier
Newburgh

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