Health experts and advocates are prioritizing a wide range of issues in the upcoming legislative session, spanning from the tobacco tax and artificial intelligence protections to measures that address children’s behavioral health, medical cannabis and workforce shortages.
Matt Wellington, associate director of the Maine Public Health Association, said his organization will push to increase the tobacco tax, which he said has not been increased in 20 years, in order to fund efforts to reduce rates of cancer.
Maine has a higher cancer incidence rate than the national average, yet one of the lowest tobacco taxes in the region…