A couple weeks ago, I walked into a convenience store to buy gas and a package of Zyn, a brand of nicotine pouches, a popular harm-reduction product people use to quit smoking or using smokeless tobacco.
I was shocked when my $20 in gas and two cans of Zyn came out to $38 and change, instead of the normal $30. Surely, I thought, the clerk had made a mistake.
Nope. Everything was accurate. Instead of Zyn costing between $5 and $5.50 per can, depending on the retailer, the price had shot up to $8.49 overnight. What gives?
Tens of thousands of Mainers like me experienced this unpleasant reality in August, when a new law that changed the legal definition of tobacco took effect in Maine. Mainers are now being punished financially for using less harmful products that, while still not good for you, are “unquestionably safer” than cigarettes and dip.
This is backward public health policy – and regressive tax policy – that should be fixed immediately when lawmakers return to Augusta in 2025.
Click here to read Jacob Posik’s full op-ed in the Portland Press Herald.