Up to half the cigarettes smoked in some Burnaby and New Westminster locations this spring were illegal, according to a study commissioned by the Western Convenience Store Association.
The study involved collecting cigarette butts at 48 locations around B.C. and checking them for branding.
Those without brands or with international or “native” brands were deemed contraband, meaning appropriate taxes and duty had not been paid on them.
Almost 52 per cent of the butts collected at a popular smoking spot on SFU’s Burnaby campus and 23 per cent of those gathered outside the Justice Institute in New West were contraband.
How roll-your-own cigarettes were classified was unclear, but Western Convenience Store Association president Andrew Klukas said they likely represented only a very small percentage, although he admitted “there may be a little bit of skewing there.”
Besides SFU and the Justice Institute, 15.8 per cent of the butts collected outside of Douglas College, 10.9 per cent by the Queen’s Park Care Centre and 6.6 per cent by the New Westminster Lawn Bowling Club were found to be contraband.
Overall the study shows illegal tobacco use is a growing problem in the region, according to Klukas.
“We didn’t think we had a problem, unfortunately,” he said. “We thought Manitoba was really the border in this battle.”
His organization wants to create more public awareness around illegal tobacco and the fact that those who sell it don’t abide by age restrictions or pay taxes.
“They’ll sell to anybody,” Klukas said. “And that tax loss – that represents a school, that represents a teacher, a doctor, a hospital.”
He would like to see stronger enforcement, including jail sentences for repeat offenders.
Naturally, contraband tobacco also cuts into legal sellers’ bottom line.
“Legal tobacco sales are still a pretty significant part of the industry,” Klukas said.
The Montreal-based company, Niric, which was commissioned to conduct the tobacco study, bills itself online as a business development firm that offers sales and marketing strategies like market analysis and assessment and communications.
No one from the company was available to answer questions about the study before press time.
