Kitchener tops contraband smokes list
Posted Dec 10, 2013 07:25:10 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Kitchener is number one in a new study – but not in a good way.
The Ontario Convenience Store Association has released an updated study of contraband cigarette butts found in random locations around the province.
Kitchener tops the list of 23 communities across Ontario.
The study found close to 29 per cent of the butts found in Kitchener were contraband. The provincial average was 21 per cent.
The study zeroed in on specific areas where people typically smoke, such as outside shopping centres, hospitals and schools.
It looked at 51 high schools across Ontario and found the worst one for contraband butts was Eastwood Collegiate in Kitchener.
Over 40 per cent of the butts picked up there were found to be illegal.
Dave Bryans, the President of the OCSA, says “What governments want, and what everyone should want, is to get all tobacco smokers into the legal market, and then we can figure out how to collect more taxes, make sure cigarettes aren’t put in the hands of youth, and then we can work with governments and health units to educate people on the ills of smoking. You can’t do that if they’re opening the trunk of a car and selling them to anyone of any age.”
