What impacts your life more than you know? This was a question I asked myself, in 2009, when I was assigned to write a magazine story on the affects of Smokeprint (Environmental impact of tobacco use). A new study has taken this question – what impacts your life more than you know – a step further. Illegal tobacco affects gun and drug trafficking. And it’s time to Stop Illegal Tobacco now…
Stop illegal tobacco
As an Ontarian and as a Mom – this topic is important to me. For the safety of my community and of my kids. One needs to be aware and responsible of their purchasing choices…and the trickle effect when you make illegal choices.
Conducted on behalf of The National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco (NCACT), an Ontario provincial survey, entitled The Guns and Drugs in Our Backyards: What Ontarians Don’t Know About Illegal Tobacco, reveals the need for greater awareness and action around this important and dangerous public safety issue.
- The RCMP estimate that there are 175 criminal gangs involved in the trade, using the proceeds to finance their other illegal activities, including guns, drugs and human smuggling.
- Contraband tobacco’s low price and easy availability make it a prime source for youth smoking– after all, criminals don’t check for I.D.
- The sale of illegal tobacco in Ontario is fueled by many things, including misconceptions about ‘legal’ purchase of cigarettes from reserves, insufficient enforcement and penalties, the involvement of organized crime and cost. The price of a taxed (legal) carton of cigarettes in Ontario is $88.64, while the sale of the same number of illegal cigarettes can cost as little as $6 to $20.
- The RCMP has estimated there are as many as 50 illegal factories in Ontario and Quebec operating outside of any government regulation that are able to produce up to 10,000 cigarettes each minute.
In my opinion, smoking is not a good choice…and buying illegal tobacco is an irresponsible choice! Smoking tobacco impacts our health and our environments. Purchasing illegal tobacco impacts our safety by funding gun and drug trafficking.
To learn more about the facts linking organized crime to the sale of illegal tobacco, visit StopIllegalTobacco.ca. To join the discussion on Twitter, use the hashtag #StopIllegalTobacco.
Thanks,so much info in the write-up i think more people need to beaware of.I shared this for my friends
I feel they don’t want anyone to smoke and to quit, so why are they still selling? get rid of tobacco altogether then, don’t grow it won’t have it, but then the government would lose to much money
And we know it all comes down to the almighty dollar
This is something everyone should be aware of… thanks for sharing this, this has to be stopped.
I never smoked. The smell totally turned me off. If I get addicted to something it is VERY hard for me to quit so I didn’t even want to try it.
I didn’t even realize there was an issue with illegal tobacco. It is truly an issue that needs addressing and people made more aware of. Thankfully I’ve never smoked and it’s something I’m encouraging our children to never start.
Thank you for providing this information. The illegal sale of tobacco should be stopped.
I didn’t realize there was a problem with illegal tobacco. I’m glad you’re helping make people aware of it.
This is pretty eye opening. I didn’t even know something like this was an issue. Thanks for the info. It’s definitely something to think about.
I agree with you and the others in that the illegal sale of tobacco needs to stop, now. Lots of information that I wasn’t aware of in regards to that, so thanks for sharing and enlightening me.
Interesting, I have not heard of this before. Thanks for sharing some extra info and references for me to look into this more!
I had no idea illegal tobacco was such a huge business. Thanks for the great information about it. I am going to do some more research on the subject.
Wow. I didn’t even know about this. Thank you for sharing such important information.
I didn’t even know about any of this. Thanks for informing me.
Scary statistics! I’ve never heard of this connection between illegal tobacco and guns before. Thank you for getting the information out there.
I had no clue illegal tobacco was even a thing! IT’s crazy how it can effect crime!
I’m like a few of the others – I had no idea there was illegal tobacco. I hope this initiative helps stop it!
I did not know what illegal tobacco was! Thanks for sharing this great information!
I had no idea this was even going on (where have I been?). Thanks for the information!
I had no idea people in Canada did this! I sort of hate tobacco so I dont even want to get into it! Hope people smarten up!
Great topic. I didn’t realize that there was such a big issue with illegal tobacco. Learn something new every day.
I had no idea there were things like illegal tobacco. I’m American but still I’m sorry to hear Canada is struggling with this issue.