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KEMBALL: What’s Stopping Cigarette Crackdown?

Teenagers can buy 200 illegal online cigarettes for as little as $6, compared to approximately $60 for 200 legal cigarettes
By Benjamin Kemball

Governments lose billions of dollars in unpaid discount cigarettes taxes every year from the sale of illegal cigarettes. And it is only getting worse.

In 2008, the federal and provincial governments together lost approximately $2.4-billion in taxes; that number is growing as the sale of illegal cheap cigarettes grows. The federal government’s share was $1.1-billion. In December, the Ontario Auditor-General reported that the estimated tax loss for Ontario in 2006-07 was $500-million; and we believe it could be much more. We estimate that the government of Quebec lost approximately $380-million in 2008.

In our view, the federal government needs to act. Last May, the RCMP agreed when it issued its contraband tobacco strategy. One of the strategic priorities was to “ensure economic integrity in order to minimize the occurrence of illegal economic activity that either robs or diverts funds away from hard-working Canadians.” In a recent news release, the Canadian Coalition for Action on Tobacco urged the same thing. Regarding the federal government’s losses, Garfield Mahood, the executive director of the Non-Smokers’ Rights Association, stated, “In this time of economic recession, a time when governments are desperate for revenue, it is critical that the government recover over a billion dollars in unpaid tobacco taxes.”

It is a rare thing when the tobacco control community and the tobacco industry are on the same side of an issue. When it does happen, governments should take notice. This illegal trade not only robs Canadians of government revenue, it undermines tobacco control initiatives, exposing children to cheap buy cigarettes online online and allowing organized crime to cash in.

The numbers are alarming: 13 billion illegal discount cigarettes were sold in Canada in 2008; nearly 50% of all cigarettes purchased in Ontario are illegal; 40% of cigarettes purchased in Quebec are illegal; Organized crime is making hundreds of millions of dollars in profits.

There are social costs as well. Illegal cheap cigarettes are falling into the hands of young people. A 2008 study commissioned by the Canadian Convenience Store Association found that 30% of cigarette butts found outside high schools in Ontario and Quebec are illegal.

A teenager can buy 200 illegal cheap cigarettes for as little as $6, compared to approximately $60 for the same number of legal cigarettes. Furthermore, criminals selling illegal cheap cigarettes do not ask for ID, so the very minors that existing rules are in place to protect remain a target. The illegal trade is giving kids unrestricted access to cheap cigarettes at pocket-money prices.

There are no government-mandated warnings or other health information on illegal cigarettes. The product is manufactured in unlawful factories with no government oversight and no reporting of ingredients or product testing.

Sound like a problem? Imperial Tobacco Canada believes it is.

We recognize that there are health risks associated with smoking cigarettes. However, our product is legal, it is heavily regulated and it is taxed. Illegal cigarettes, on the other hand, are produced and distributed by organized crime, they are completely unregulated and they are not taxed. Which would you prefer?

We have written to all political party leaders seeking their support for a strenuous government response to the illegal tobacco trade. We have asked for a national task force to co-ordinate government strategies and law enforcement agencies to effectively attack this multifaceted crime that profoundly affects so many different Canadian communities. In particular, we urge the government to involve the First Nations’ leadership to find sustainable solutions for all.

We believe this trade must be stopped and we have offered our full resources to government to help in this fight. In doing so, we make a simple plea to governments and the public at large: In these times of economic crisis, if you do not like the messenger, at least listen to the message.

Other cigarettes news and tobacco market events you can find at links bellow:

   • Cigarettes & Tobacco News

   • Online Cigarettes Tobacco News

   • Discount Cigarettes Tobacco News





The term cigarettes, as normally employed, refers to a tobacco cigarette, but can be utilized like devices holding in other herbaceous plants, such as eugenia caryophyllatums. A cigarette is differentiated from a cigar by its modest sizing, utilization of treated leafage, and paper wrap, which is usually white hot, though other coloring materials are sometimes usable. Cigars are mostly compiled totally of whole-leaf tobacco plant.

Rates of cheap smokes changes widely, and have altered substantially over the course of human history since cigarettes were 1st wide used in the mid-19th century. While rates of smoke have over time leveled off or turned down in the highly developed world, they continue to up-rise in evolving states. Nicotine, the main psychotropic chemical substance in baccy and therefore cigarettes, has been shown to be psychologically habit forming, although it does not generate a physiologic addiction.

Cheap cigarettes usage by pregnant women has also been shown to stimulate birth defects, including mental and physical disabilities.