Maine’s workforce shortage is top of mind for business owners across the state. While addressing it will require multiple approaches, there’s one concrete action we can take now to invest in a healthier workforce for the future. We need to keep teenagers from getting hooked on tobacco.
Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, and here in Maine it kills 2,400 adults every year. That should be reason enough for lawmakers to take action to curb tobacco use. But there’s another reason to act: Tobacco use is bad for business.
Building a community-oriented brand like Otto’s Pizza means valuing customers’ experiences. Having staff outside the entryways smoking, or reeking of smoke inside while they interact with people, turns customers off. Hiring smokers also means having to lean on other employees to cover smoke breaks, and fill in when smokers are out sick because people who smoke are generally less healthy and miss more work than non-smokers. The problem isn’t unique to Otto; it cuts across the service industry, construction and manufacturing. According to the Maine CDC, smoking costs Maine’s economy nearly $1.5 billion a year in associated healthcare costs and lost productivity. Tobacco addiction is a scourge on peoples’ health, and its consequences present one more challenge to finding reliable staff in a chaotic labor market.
It’s critical that current tobacco users get the resources and help they need to quit. However, nearly 9 out of 10 adults who smoke daily started smoking before they turned 18. That’s why we need to keep kids from ever touching tobacco products in the first place.
We have a lot of work to do in Maine to keep young people from starting down the road to tobacco addiction. The latest data from the Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey (2021) shows that 1 out of every 5 Maine high school students were current users of a tobacco product in 2021. That’s well above the national average of 13.4%. That trend desperately needs reversing to keep young people healthy now and in the future.
Whether it’s a cherry-flavored e-cigarette, a menthol cigarette or a rocky road-flavored cigar, flavored products attract kids and make it easier for them to start using tobacco. It’s no surprise that studies have shown that 4 out of 5 young people who have ever used tobacco started with a flavored product: Surveys consistently cite appealing flavors as a primary reason why young people say they use tobacco.
The federal government is moving too slowly and not boldly enough to take flavored tobacco products off the market and, so far, Maine’s state legislators have failed to act. That’s why Portland, Bangor and Brunswick passed local ordinances to end the sale of flavored tobacco products. We’re already seeing some positive outcomes from these local actions. Brunswick High School saw a decline in students vaping after the town’s ordinance on flavored tobacco went into effect recently. Other localities, including South Portland, are considering taking flavored tobacco off the market.
Local actions are key to protecting kids from a future of tobacco addiction. Reducing youth tobacco use will create healthy communities where businesses can succeed. If young people never start using tobacco, then when they eventually enter the workforce, they’ll be healthier and more productive employees. That’s a win for Maine’s communities and a win for the businesses, like Otto, that are such a central part of those communities.
Eventually, we’ll need state action to end the sale of flavored tobacco products. In the meantime, South Portland should swiftly approve its local ordinance, and other cities and towns should follow suit.
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