TORONTO: Representatives of the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco (NCACT) were in Halton and called for better laws and penalties to counter the illegal manufacture and distribution of cigarettes.
The 17-member coalition, which includes Crime Stoppers, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the Customs and Immigration Union, spoke with Halton police officials and the local chamber of commerce in an effort to raise awareness of the contraband cigarettes issue.
“A lot of people aren’t aware of the scope of this problem. They think it is a victimless crime,” said Gary Grant, a retired Toronto Police Officer and NCACT spokesperson.
“This affects young people who have access to these illegal cigarettes. This affects the economy, which is losing a lot of money because of this and it affects society as a whole because a society that allows organized crime to run rampant is being impacted in a negative way.”
Grant emphasized the proliferation of contraband cigarettes is greater in Ontario than anywhere else in Canada with an estimated one in three cigarettes purchased in the province being illegal.
He said these cigarettes are manufactured in illegal factories without any kind of regulations in both the U.S. and Canada.
Grant noted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) estimate there are about 50 illegal cigarette factories operating in Canada, many of which are here in Ontario.
These cigarettes appeal to many because they are cheap with a carton of 200 illegal cigarettes selling for $8 instead of the $80 the same number of legal cigarettes would fetch.
“That’s tobacco people are not paying taxes on and that is causing a huge revenue loss to the provincial government to the tune of about $1 billion a year,” said Grant.
“That should be going into the provincial treasury and going to work for all Ontarians as opposed to into the hands of criminals who are selling these cigarettes on the black market.”
Grant wants to make it clear that contraband cigarettes are not being sold by a few people just trying to make some extra money.
They are being sold by organized crime, he said, with the RCMP estimating 175 organized criminal gangs are involved in the distribution and sale of contraband tobacco in Canada.
“One of the reasons they are involved is that it is a high reward endeavor. They are making millions and millions of dollars, and it is low risk,” said Grant.
“There are not as many police resources or time or police responsibility put towards contraband tobacco as there are for other crimes like guns and gangs.”
Grant said in most cases contraband cigarette sales are not the only criminal activity these groups are involved with and funds raised from contraband tobacco are used to purchase guns, drugs and sometimes even people for the purpose of human trafficking.
Besides enabling organized crime, Grant said, this tobacco trade also harms young people, as the individuals who sell this illicit product do not care how old their customers are.
“This starts kids down the road to smoking, increases the smoking rate in Ontario again, and it teaches kids that it is okay to break the law,” said Grant.
“They think, ‘If it is okay to use the black market when you are 12 or 13 years old, why not continue all through your life.’ This is a problem the province really must get rid of before it becomes so entrenched they can never get rid of it.”
The NCACT website noted one of the group’s members, the Canadian Convenience Stores Association, regularly conduct studies into the proliferation of contraband tobacco at high schools in Ontario.
These studies collect discarded cigarette buts from around school properties after hours and consistently find high amounts of contraband cigarettes, often as high as 40 per cent.
Grant said small businesses that legally sell cigarettes are also impacted by the sale of contraband tobacco.
He noted these stores selling legally manufactured and taxed products cannot compete with the cheap untaxed contraband cigarettes and as a result are losing tens of thousands of dollars in sales every year.
Halton police say they have not encountered contraband cigarettes in Halton recently.
In nearby Hamilton, however, tests of discarded cigarette butts undertaken by NCACT in 2014 found contraband proliferation levels to be at about 28.6 per cent.
This represented a 7.5 per cent increase over the results of a similar study, which took place in 2013.
Grant is calling on the province to look to Quebec, which through 2009’s Bill 59 and the ACCESS Tabac program has given more powers and resources to local police, created tougher penalties for offenders and made contraband tobacco a law enforcement priority.
He noted that since these actions contraband cigarette levels in Quebec have dropped by 50 per cent.
NCACT also wants the province to make it harder for those who manufacture illegal cigarettes to get the materials they need to do so.
This would include licensing filter material, which Grant said would be hard for criminals to duplicate or replace.
The group also wants to see more collaboration between police services in Canada and across the border to combat this problem.
