A new study confirms that teen smokers are getting hooked on contraband cigarettes in significant numbers. This study was commissioned by the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco (NCACT). The study, which makes disturbing reading, should particularly open the eyes of federal as well as provincial governments which have been losing millions of dollars in revenue from this mushrooming illicit trade.

For instance, according to available records, Ontario has been losing an estimated $1 billion a year in illicit tobacco trade.

My guess is Quebec is also losing a lot of revenue. Quebec has often emphasized it is determined to put an end of contraband cigarettes. And the federal government is the biggest loser in this illicit trade.

Lost tax revenue to Ottawa as well as Ontario and Quebec is estimated to total about $1.6 billion a year.

This is just an estimate. The actual figure is believed to be more than $2 billion a year.

All strategies to wipe out this illegal trade have not succeeded in fighting contraband tobacco in Canada.

The local law enforcement agencies, with help from provincial police forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, have not succeeded in putting a huge dent in this illegal trade, which continues to thrive and flourish.

The unchecked proliferation of contraband tobacco products is undermining government efforts to curb smoking, especially among teenagers.

At one time, we were given to believe youngsters are abandoning the bad habit of smoking in numbers. But, this does not seem to be the case according to the NCACT study. The just-released study made it clear that contraband cigarettes are becoming more popular because they are readily available and also available at a much cheaper rate than regular taxed cigarettes in Ontario and Quebec.

Smokers usually dish out anything from $75 to $100 to legally buy a carton of cigarettes. However, if you were to buy the same number of cigarettes in a plastic bag from an illegal source it will cost you less than $10.

Many blame high taxes on tobacco products for this illegal trade.

Others say if taxes are too law, it will encourage more and more people to take up smoking, which has also been blamed for heart and lung diseases.

Every year, millions of unregulated cigarettes flood across the border.

The contraband cigarettes, apart from being cheaper, are also available to teenagers without questions. Teenagers do not require age of majority cards or any identification to purchase these cigarettes.

This study was not perfect and has some flaws. It was financed by two groups, which are losing money to contraband cigarettes. The study revealed that almost half of butts found on or near Quebec and Ontario school grounds came from contraband cigarettes.

Tobacco-related illness costs Canada more than $4 billion a year.

We can do without new teenagers taking up the bad habit.

A large percentage of illegal cigarettes are smuggled through Akwesasne Mohawk territory in New York State.

Health Canada has found the contraband products is even worse for their health than regulated cigarettes because they are not monitored for quality at all.

It is also widely believed that proceeds from contraband cigarettes often support organized crime.

Apart from destroying the tax base, the contraband cigarettes is also killing communities and destroying health standards.

The rapidly expanding illicit tobacco trade should be a growing concern for federal and provincial governments and to the national law enforcement agency. Eliminating contraband cigarettes will take time, money and constant effort by everyone.

Teenagers who are taking up this habit of smoking are not getting their cigarettes from corner stores; they are buying contraband cigarettes from smugglers and others bent on making quick bucks.

The real solution to put an end to this problem is more enforcement and the political will to end this once and for all.

In Cornwall, cigarette butts were collected from around five high schools.

The analysis revealed 38 percent of the cigarette butts collected came from contraband cigarettes.

“Kids, who should not be smoking at all, are having no trouble getting their hands on illegal cigarettes that cost pennies a piece,” said Gary Grant, a spokesman for NCACT.

The spokesman is a retired staff superintendent of the Toronto Police Service.