A MAJOR crackdown on rogue traders who sell cigarettes to children and young people in East Lancashire will be launched next week.
The Keep It Out campaign highlights the dangers of illegal tobacco and encourages communities to take action against those who sell it to young people.
Of course. The wording is a little bad so I will clarify. Rogue traders refers to white van man who is bringing tobacco back from Europe and selling it on. He does this because British tobacco tax is so high, he can sell his imported product for less and still make a large profit.
The only dangers of illegal tobacco is the government loosing out on it's cut of the profits.
The tobacco is legal, what is illegal is selling it in Britain without paying the excessive duty on it.
Does that help?
Tobacco Free Futures has chosen to run the campaign in East Lancashire after the area was revealed as an illegal tobacco ‘hot spot’.
Dr Sohail Bhatti, Interim Director of Public Health at NHS East Lancashire, backed the scheme, which starts on Monday.
A quick tour of the Googlesphere to find out if Tobacco Free Futures is a fake charity yielded little fruit. They seem to be a subsidiary of The International Union Against Tubercolosis and Lung Disease, but you would be better off doing your own research before quoting me on that.
The website has links to various tobacco control studies such as smokefree areas and packet labelling. It has busybodying fake charity written all over it.
He said: “On average, over 500 people in East Lancashire die each year because of smoking-related diseases.
Big wow. Smoking is a personal choice and smokers are well aware of the health risks.
“Its worrying that East Lancashire is a hot spot for illegal tobacco.
Is it? Or is it simply that smokers in East Lancashire are tired of paying the excessive rates of tobacco tax imposed on them, and would prefer to buy imported tobacco from a chap down the pub?
“We need to work together in our communities to stop illegal cigarettes being sold to children so that they don’t become one of these terrible statistics in the future.
Personally I think all this 'selling to children' bleating is simply to add a big emotive edge to the issue. I have come into contact with many people who sell cheap tobacco. They bring a big stash back from their yearly holiday and they sell it to people at work or people they know down the pub. They sometimes make enough money to cover the cost of their holiday and have some left over for themselves.
They don't sell to children and they certainly don't do this:
Illegal tobacco is also linked to low-level and large-scale organised crime, so it helps fund drugs and weapon smuggling, child exploitation and money laundering.
It doesn't make a good story to simply say that some adults bring bacci back from their holidays and other adults prefer to buy from them and save money rather than handing a huge wedge of their hard earned cash to the government.
No, we have to have a save the kiddies element, and we have to describe these people as terrorists and paedophiles.
Tobacco smuggling does not fund activities like these any more than counterfeit DVD's ever did. All they ever funded was East Asian immigrants.
“I welcome this campaign and the very valuable work that Trading Standards does to keep out illegal tobacco.”
Smoking hot can tell you all about that 'very valuable work'. Pop over there and read about the intimidation of innocent cross boarder shoppers, confiscation of legal products after interviews involving trickery and threats and the random heavy handedness of the UKBA.
New research has revealed that half of the tobacco bought by 14 to 15-year-olds is illegal and one-in-four young smokers regularly gets offered illegal tobacco.
Dealers target children and young people by selling them single cigarettes, which makes it more affordable for them and gets them hooked so that they come back for more.
Dealers? Hooked? No they don't. White van man hasn't got the time nor the inclination to start fannying about selling singles to kids when there are plenty of adults out there who will buy three or four sleeves at a time.
Smugglers don't need to get kids hooked on cigarettes, the UK Government has already created a target group willing to buy imported fags by ramping up the tax to incredible levels.
“The Keep It Out campaign is a way of letting concerned parents and community members know that they can take action and do something about this.”
Parents are already aware that they can do something about this. If they don't want their children to smoke then they need to keep an eye on them and make sure they don't start, like any good parent should.
That paragraph should really read:
The Keep it out campaign is a way of getting a bunch of useful idiots to help vilify people who find ways to avoid paying high tax on tobacco, and ensure the Government gets it's money to give to anti smoking campaigners.
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