Hiking cigarette taxes will put people at jeopardy

Published on September 2, 2009 7:40 AM

It has been proved that the major cause of crime wave is a difficulty to get a product in a legal manner. It is especially true for people hooked on something and feeling and especial need to satisfy their cravings. Banning alcohol in the 1920s and adopting stupid legislations to halt drug consumption have always been useless. They only contribute to the growth and prosperity of black market.

The recent federal tax hike on tobacco products resulted in the rise of organized crime and the number of street gangs, the war between those gangs, overcrowded jails and millions of revenues lost.  What our government fails to understand is that addiction to tobacco or other product is not a crime but an illness that should be treated or even prevented. However, there still will be addicts who will keep consuming the addictive product, disregarding the treatments.

Whereas tobacco products are still legal, the lawmakers are implementing hefty taxes on smokers, making it almost impossible for poor smokers to have a shot of nicotine, leaving them in mental and even physical pain.

Massachusetts smokers currently have to fork up more than $2 for each pack of cigarettes they buy across the state in addition to $1.01 of federal tax. The nonsmokers showed indifference, considering that hefty taxes will make people give up smoking. But the rates show, the majority of smokers won’t stop puffing because of tax increase, since they are hooked on nicotine.

When I was 20, I often bought counterfeit cigarettes from smugglers since they were much cheaper. Imagine, saving up to $5 per pack was an essential help for my personal budget.

In conformity with the report of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, almost 800 cases of illegal tobacco smuggling were investigated during the previous half-a-decade. For instance, The New York City smokers have to buy cigarettes for almost $9 a pack, so the local cigarette traffickers are flooding the streets.

Nevertheless, smokers keep puffing. The neighboring Canada as well has been struggling with the traffic of counterfeit cigarettes. Two months ago, Canadian Police officers confiscated almost two million of contraband cigarettes on the border of Ontario province. And this is not the only case.

Several years ago, shortly after the Canadian government approved dramatic cigarette tax increase, local tobacco stores reported significant sale drops while Indian reservation smoke shops had a double increase in sale volumes.

So, in case the things are not changed, the major part of the revenue generated from heavy taxes would be passed to the criminal justice system. The government should better discourage smoking by rising awareness and changing behaviors among minors, since the cigarette addiction frequently starts in adolescence.

Illnesses and other health risks should be included in curriculum equally with math or other subjects. If government succeeds in preventing teenagers from smoking, it would make smoking rates fall.

So, instead of boring anti-smoking lectures, the campaigners should rather show kids pictures of severe illnesses related to smoking, and I am sure a half of them would never light up.