Coalition against contraband tobacco brings message to Sudbury

If you’ve been on Kathleen Street in Sudbury lately, you may have noticed a billboard with information about contraband tobacco and the associated fines for having it.

It was recently put up by the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco.

Gary Grant, a former police officer and spokesperson for the coalition, said the group is trying to raise public awareness.

“Ontario is the worst province in Canada with the problem,” he said.

“Over 30 per cent of the cigarettes purchased in the last year [in Ontario] were contraband cigarettes.”

Grant said the sale of contraband cigarettes affects government collected tax revenues, upward of $1-billion each year in the province.

“It’s a cash cow for organized crime,” he said.

“They’re reinvesting that money into weapons, drugs, even some evidence of human smuggling.”

The epicentre for contraband cigarettes is in southern Ontario, Grant said, but he added it’s still a problem in northern communities such as Sudbury.

“I believe that a significant number of people in the province still don’t realize the magnitude of the problem of contraband tobacco,” he said.

“A lot of people think it’s a victimless crime but indeed, everybody’s a victim of this.”