The Portland City Council unanimously passed a ban on the sale of flavoured tobacco products on 7 February, reports The Portland Press Herald.

The ordinance will take effect on 1 June, the same day a similar ordinance is scheduled to take effect in Bangor. Both municipalities are among more than 330 communities nationwide that have enacted restrictions on the sale of flavoured tobacco products, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
“This is just one of many tools we can use to create a better public health outcome for everyone,” said Councilor Tae Chong, who chairs the council’s Health & Human Services and Public Safety Committee, which approved the ban 3-0 in November. “Banning flavored tobacco isn’t the only strategy. Prevention and intervention and all those other things are going to come into play, but this is one way to help the overall health of our kids and also marginalized populations.”
The new ordinance defines a flavoured tobacco product as “any tobacco product that imparts a taste or smell, other than the taste or smell of tobacco, either prior to, or during the consumption of, a tobacco product, including, but not limited to, any taste or smell relating to fruit, menthol, mint, wintergreen, chocolate, cocoa, vanilla, honey, or any candy, dessert, alcoholic beverage, herb, or spice,” the report said.
It applies to any natural or synthetic tobacco or nicotine products intended to be consumed by inhalation, absorption or ingestion by any other means. This includes flavoured cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco and snuff. Violations of the ordinance are punishable by fines of USD 100 to 500 for each offense. Cannabis products are exempt unless they contain tobacco or nicotine or are manufactured or derived from them.
According to the report, Maine lawmakers are considering a statewide ban on the sale of flavoured tobacco products. Rep. Michele Meyer, D-Eliot, is sponsoring a bill, L.D. 1550, that passed out of the Legislature’s Committee on Health and Human Services last year, and was carried over to the current session. Meyer said that she expects her bill to come up for a House vote this spring, though a vote has not yet been scheduled.