TORONTO – In a letter sent Monday to Premiers across Canada, the Canadian Convenience Stores Association (CCSA) called on provincial governments to legislate a ban on underage tobacco possession and use as the next important step to reduce youth smoking. 

Existing laws prohibit regulated retail outlets from selling tobacco to minors, but the alarming and fast-growing trade in illegal cigarettes means that young people are getting widespread access to cheap, unregulated and untaxed cigarettes, the group noted. 

“Banning on the possession and use of tobacco for anyone under the age of majority would complement existing laws – and is just simply a good idea,” said CCSA President Dave Bryans. “Some may think it’s a drastic measure, but with the rate at which youth are bypassing government controls on the sale of tobacco and getting access to illegal, unregulated tobacco, sold from basements and cars, we think it’s a necessary measure to protect our youth,” he added.

A 2007 study by the CCSA’s “We Expect ID” program of cigarette butts collected from around 105 high schools in Ontario and Quebec showed an alarming presence of contraband tobacco. The study revealed that in Ontario, 24 percent of high school smokers’ cigarette butts were contraband, while in Quebec, contraband made up 35 percent of schoolyard cigarettes. The results were punctuated by contraband rates of 50 percent in Newmarket and 47 percent in Aurora in Ontario and spikes of contraband in Quebec in the Anjou and Côte-des-Neiges regions – 74 percent and 60 percent respectively. 

“If it’s illegal for someone under 19 to have a beer, the same rules should apply for cigarettes – it just makes sense,” added Steve Tennant, director of the CCSA’s “We Expect ID” program. “And from a broader perspective, we think this kind of legislation would give authorities an important tool to help fight the sale of illegal contraband tobacco to youth. We know this is a growing problem and it’s happening outside all government’s current anti-smoking rules and regulations. There’s no easy solution to this problem, but we think this ban is a step in the right direction.”