The Press Herald Editorial Board recently published an editorial headlined “Our View: Stop tobacco companies from targeting youth” (May 24), and I have some areas of concern and some areas of agreement. While I think it’s critically important to keep vapor products and their various flavors out of the hands of children and young adults, I don’t think it’s right for our state Legislature to take away the choice of legal-aged adults to purchase flavored tobacco products like menthol cigarettes, chewing tobacco and flavored cigars.

As a retailer and Maine resident, I keep fruit-flavored vapor products out of the hands of children. But if a legal-age adult wants to purchase a tobacco product, it should be up to them, not our state government. Supporters of the full-flavor-ban bill say it will curb use in young people, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Survey of 2019 shows that only 1.8 percent of high school students are frequent smokers, I have a hard time believing adults who use menthol-flavored tobacco products won’t find other, potentially illegal ways to get them.

When full-flavor bans, like the one being considered here, are implemented in other states or municipalities, a whole host of unintended consequences follow. Tobacco smuggling rates go up, and small-business owners and retailers are forced to cut staff or shut down entirely due to lost revenue.

Members of the state Legislature, please carefully consider your vote on a full-flavor ban. Don’t take away our freedom to choose.

Gary Carr
Bath

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