Editor’s Note: The following is translated from the French via Google Translate. The orginal press release is here.
From: The National Coalition against Contraband Tobacco
Quebec knows that banning menthol opens wide the door to smuggling and organized crime
The National Coalition against Contraband Tobacco (NCACT) is appalled by the intention of Quebec to ban menthol cigarettes but do nothing against smuggling in its review of the legislation in tobacco material. The challenge of Bill 44, An Act to strengthen the fight against smoking, tabled today is clearly creating a context that will fuel more smuggling and organized crime. Bill 44 systematically ignores the problem of smuggling and includes nothing more to fight it.
“The elephant in the room today is that Quebec knows that menthol cigarettes are illegal now produced and sold by smugglers. We know it was the same and the evidence. However, the Minister for Public Health thinks that banning menthol cigarettes of the Quebec market, smugglers will simply cease to produce and sell – yet it is just the opposite, “of declared Michel Rouillard, retired sergeant of the Sûreté du Québec and spokesperson of the NCACT.
In a recent survey, the NCACT recovered 13 packs of smuggled illegal menthol cigarettes produced in Kahnawake and / or available in Quebec. According to national police sources, Kahnawake in suburban Montreal have 40 clandestine factories producing illegal cigarettes even today tens of thousands of cigarettes a minute. The RCMP also identified 175 organized crime groups the type Hells Angels, Italian mafia and gangs that profit directly from smuggling while indulging in drugs and firearms trafficking and the prostitution and pimping. A ‘baggies’ contraband cigarettes sells for about $ 12 in Quebec and is distributed by a network related to the drug dealers, a winning recipe combines low price, ease of access and availability. Tobacco smuggling is also a direct source of youth smoking because the smugglers do not check the age of their buyers, mocking government strategies to reduce tobacco use.
