By Dan Wilson
I’m still shaking my head at this one. Are they for real or what?
So I have this friend who buys illegal smokes. Hmmm, let me rephrase that. I have a friend who has a friend who says he knows someone who buys illegal smokes. Much better.
Click on this image to move it to full screen. Photo by Dan Wilson
Anyways, the idea of driving an hour to an hour and a half (that’s approximately how long it takes to get from Niagara Falls to Caledonia) to save a few bucks on cigarettes always seemed a little… wasteful to me.
That was until I did a bit of research and found that you can purchase a bag of 200 illegal cigarettes for as little as $6 whereas the same amount of legal smokes costs between $70 and $100. Okay, that’s quite a savings. I learned something new today. But that isn’t why I was shaking my head. It’s the line at the bottom of the billboard – one of many billboards recently erected around the region – that reads: “Buying contraband… harms the community.”
I actually laughed out loud when I read that. So I went to the OCSA’s (that’s the Ontario Convenience Stores Association) website to learn more, and found an article there from the National Post which said the most serious impact of buying illegal cigarettes “may be public health.” Here’s the link: http://www.conveniencestores.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=346:inside-canadas-underground-tobacco-industry&catid=40:ccsa
Really? So… buying cheap, illegal cigarettes is bad for your health, but buying legal, government-approved cigarettes are oh so healthy, right? Give me a break! The only evidence the National Post provided that illegal cigarettes may be unhealthy is:
“Illegal tobacco products are readily affordable to children who might otherwise have difficulty procuring them from a legitimate retailer. Research commissioned by the Canadian Convenience Stores Association in 2009 revealed that 30% of cigarette butts collected near Ontario high schools, and 45% of those collected near Quebec schools, were from illegal cigarettes.”
Okay, kids smoking cigarettes is bad. I totally get that. And I’m not suggesting that illegal cigarettes are not unhealthy. Smoking cigarettes, any kind of cigarettes – except the Popeye ones – by anyone, regardless of age, is unhealthy.
But to target “illegal” smokes as being harmful, while downplaying the harm caused by legalized tobacco products – to the individual smoker, the families of those who get sick, our health-care system and the community at large – is truly ironic.
The only harm the OCSA seems to be concerned about is lost revenue; losing customers to the First Nations stores that sell really cheap cigarettes. So they resort to scare tactics – linking contraband cigarettes to drug trafficking, the Hells Angels, the Russian mafia and even terrorist organizations like Hezbollah – in an attempt to refill their pockets.
Then I started wondering if my hard-earned money was actually paying for this ridiculous ad. Is the government using my tax dollars to try and recoup lost taxes because people are sick and tired of paying outrageous cigarette taxes?
As it turns out, the OCSA is paying for its own ads. My tax dollars are just going to fund initiatives like the RCMP Contraband Tobacco Team, the Canadian Border Services Agency Detector Dog Service, and the Canada Revenue Agency’s public awareness campaigns.
Too bad we can’t just outlaw ALL harmful tobacco products.
Dan Wilson is a Niagara native and regular contributor of news and commentary to Niagara At Large. He also is one of the most thoughtful and knowlegable writers in this region on writers on the truly humane treatment of animals – as opposed to the excuses we have as humane societies in this region – and on the captivity of animals at Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
(Niagara At Large invites you to share a ‘sign of the times’ if you happen to find and capture an image of a sign that says something about these crazy times we live in. In the meantime, we welcome your views on this post, remembering that NAL has a policy of only posting comments by individuals who have the courage the rest of us do – to share their real first and last names. It is all about everyone being accountable for what they say, and we believe that is fair.)
Niagara At Large 
“Cigarettes are the bane of the whole human race, a man is a monkey with one in his face!” As a former smoker (shame) AND a retired medical doctor (double shame), I’ll stand behind that cited quotation all the way to the pearly gates. As health hazards “cigarettes and whiskey” rank right up there well beyond “wild, wild women.” As a former connoisseur, I can also be irritatingly authoritative on another subtle point: Contraband versus government endorsed cigarettes. Is there a difference aside from price? YES! The contraband ones almost rip your throat out on the instant. Coughing and hacking and gagging and a red, contorted face is instantly guaranteed. Only a half of a cigarette can be smoked at a time. One just has to stop the poison stat. Comparatively, the legal ones are smooth, gentle and mild. (Advertisement not intended.) I always did wonder if the legal, government-endorsed tobacco companies actually ‘doctored’ their product to be easier to take – with some chemical, akin to but not obvious, like menthol. If so, those highly-taxed cigarettes sold at the gas stations and convenience stores are, in the long run, more dangerous by far than those cheap ones that come from the reservations. William Hogg MD
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Not all smokes on reserve are throat hackers,Dr.Hogg. Sure, the 6-12 dollar bags are horrible. There are carton smokes that range in price from $18 to $35, and those are very good. And after I found a brand I liked and learned that that hut always bought my brand from the same supplier, I stayed with them.
Yes, smoking is not good, but let me worry about that. If the government did not tax “legal smokes ” to death, I would not have to make the trip to Caledonia. I feel bad for the corner store owners, but their real enemy is our greedy government. I, and most people I know, will buy from the reserve until we quit or die. Rob Skolik
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This is nothing more than a rant from a paternalistic writer who misses the whole point of the OCSA ad campaign. So driven by his anti-smoking fury, Dan Wilson misses the point that illegal tobacco is having a negative impact on legitimate businesses (whether or not, tobacco sold by legal vendors is LEGAL) and a greater financial impact on communities and the province.
Contraband tobacco only results in money flowing into the black market. This market has been increased due to over taxation by the Government of Ontario and their failure to enforce the laws (for one reason or another).
I am not advocating smoking, but I’ll be damned if I am mislead by an individual who can’t see the tree from the forest because they are so blinded by their personal beliefs. The OCSA should be commended for taking action on eliminating contraband, not criticized in the manner undertaken by Dan Wilson. And seriously Dan…are First Nations people ABOVE the law that they shouldn’t have to abide by regulator measures placed by the Government?
Paternalistic individuals like Dan Wilson will leave the world with little choice and will attempt to ram their views on life on anyone who will listen. It’s a sign of our time that these people can voice their views, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t go unchallenged. What’s next Dan…should we all stop eating meat for fear of “hurting animals”?
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