Smoking is not a cheap habit. In recent years, the average price of a carton of cigarettes has risen to well over $100. Legal cigarettes, that is.For many, the economic toll of their addiction has lead them to look for cheaper alternatives on the black market — and across Canada, organized crime groups have answered that call by offering illegal tobacco at a fraction of the price.According to former Ontario Provincial Police Investigations and Organized Crime Deputy Commissioner Rick Barnum, the situation is particularly worrying in British Columbia, where gangs have been busted using the cancer-causing contraband to fund other illicit activities."We know from our work that the extreme west coast and east coast of Canada have been targeted," he told the Western Standard, noting that half the cigarettes sold in BC are illegal. "That's caused, obviously, by heavy taxation on legitimate cigarettes and the price."In an effort to curb tobacco use, BC implemented a slew of taxes, including 32.5 cents per cigarette, $6.50 per pack of 20, $8.13 per pack of 25, and $65 per carton of 200. Loose tobacco was also hit with a tax of 65 cents per gram.."It's become a a multi-billion dollar industry for them," Barnum said of the organized crime groups, "and that is hurting us on many different levels, including the legitimate taxation level, where you look at the province of British Columbia and the government, how much money they expected to make this year on legitimate cigarette sales through taxation."He explained that compared to cocaine, where the profit margin is around 200%, illegal tobacco brings home returns of 400%."There's really no risk to selling it," he lamented. "I've never known anybody to go to prison for selling contraband cigarettes. The fines aren't overly significant for the amount of money that they make, selling it."Barnum, who now serves as executive director of the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco, argued that while its often seen as "relatively victimless," illegal cigarettes have myriad undesirable consequences for society. Along with funding organized crime, they take away from revenue the government expects to make from the sale of legitimate tobacco products, which in turn makes it harder to fund projects..While it's rare for illegal cigarettes to be laced with more dangerous substances, he said unlike legal ones, they often don't have filter rings that extinguish the flame if they're not being actively smoked. A series of fatal fires in London, Ontario were traced back to people smoking illegitimate cigarettes and forgetting to put them out.As of 2023, there were over 150 criminal organizations reported to be selling illegal cigarettes. While many were Canadian, some have their origins as far away as Russia, Asia, and Italy.Barnum added that contraband tobacco "really is a Canadian issue," noting that "cigarettes that were seized are produced at the factories here in Ontario," and that in some cases, the tobacco itself is grown in Canada.When asked what the BC government could be doing to combat the problem, he suggested they look to Quebec, which set up a team whose sole purpose was targeting illegal tobacco operations.Since 2009, they've managed to cut contraband tobacco sales by 50%, returning around $9 for every $1 the government allocates to the team.There have been a number of high-profile seizures in BC, most recently in Kelowna, where $750,000 worth of contraband cigarettes and "large quantities" of other drugs were recovered.
