Illegal sales of cigarettes soar in Ontario, while corner stores and tax coffers suffer
Jump to full article: Toronto (Ont) Sun (ca), 2009-06-26
Author: CHRISTINA BLIZZARD, SUN MEDIA
Intro: Canada's illegal cigarette trade is soaring out of control -- and governments at all levels are reluctant to do anything about it. . . .
With cigarettes selling illegally for as little as $10 a carton, it's mostly kids who are buying.
"They're recruiting youth to transport the cigarettes from the Akwesasne Mohawk territory to smoke shacks in other aboriginal communities," Harvey said.
In one case, a 17 year-old girl was making $6,000 a week doing that and used the money to finance her drug addiction.
"The general public sees this as sticking it to the tax man and that it's their right to buy cigarettes at low prices (because) the government is over-taxing them," he said. "They are really financing organized crime groups, who are using this money to produce drugs such as Ectasy and meth labs across Canada."
I don't smoke. I don't like people to smoke around me. But if people are going to buy a legal product, they should do so legally. This week, the UN said Canada is a "primary source" of Ecstasy and methamphetamines.
As long as governments refuse to deal with the illicit tobacco trade, we'll continue to be the party drug dealer of choice to the world.
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