Illicit tobacco: Two stories, UK and London, Ontario

On the UK side, resources for intercepting illicit substances at the ports (a reserved issue handled by the UK Borders Agency) are not being deployed effectively: a combination of cuts and political pressure mean that borders agency staff are concentrating on illegal immigration control at the expense of illicit substances. Of course there are tobacco seizures by other enforcement agencies, i.e. trading standards officers and police: this one, for example. (But of course far more of it gets through the sieve that is the UKBA.)

In Ontario, Canada, the story is even more absurd. Tobacconists, the first people in the money chain to be hit by illegal imports of tobacco, have been ordered to remove educational posters warning their customers of the presence of illegal tobacco in the community and its harmful effects. The logic of the Middlesex–London Health Unit runs thus:

“They are promoting tobacco use. They are promoting a product. In essence the materials really say, ‘Don’t buy illegal tobacco, we here happen to have legal tobacco for sale’,” said Linda Stobo, program manager for tobacco control with MLHU.

Of course that's exactly what the posters say. How could I possibly think otherwise?

Incredibly the report adds: 'No charges have been laid at any London store because of the posters.' Charges laid! The report gives the indignant President of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association a fair hearing and notes the distress of some of the traders who have been forced to remove their posters.

I'm not a gambler, but I wouldn't bet on illicit tobacco going out of fashion any time soon.

One rule for them ...

Courtesy of Dick Puddlecote, the interesting story of what happens to tobacco that is seized by the UK Borders Agency. The background to this interesting tale is included. Seized tobacco is burned as fuel in a power station, and an information commissioner ruled that it was in the public interest that the power station should be identified.

Power stations can lawfully release emissions from tobacco into the atmosphere (even though there is no safe level of secondary smoke).