From: mlfidler@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Michael L Fidler Jr)
Subject: a noble experiment
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 04:09:17 GMT




   Yet Another Noble Experiment:
    Canada escalates the War On Drugs to include nicotine addicts     
        
        By William H. Walker 
        
        (reprinted by permission from _Claustrophobia_)
        
                Canada  has  just  given us yet another  example  of  the 
        failure  of  Prohibition.   The Canadian  government  has  levied 
        prohibitive taxes on nicotine addicts.  According to the December 
        issue of Forbes magazine, Federal and provincial taxes on a legal 
        pack  of  cigarettes in Canada average $2.93.  A  legal  pack  of 
        cigarettes  now  costs $5.26 in Vancouver.  And what  is  is  the 
        result  of  this policy?  Few Canadians are  buying  legal  ciga-
        rettes.   Overnight, a whole new industry has been  criminalized.  
        How  are  the nicotine users getting their  fixes,  according  to 
        Forbes?
                Mohawk smugglers (for instance)  buy Canadian  ciga-
        rettes in the US (untaxed by the Canadian government (to  encour-
        age  exports).  Then they take them to their reservation  on  the 
        New York- Ontario border and smuggle them into Canada, where they 
        sell  them  (legally) to Canadian nicotine addicts for  half  the 
        price of taxed smokes.
        
                The  cigarette  tax  is also a major  source  of  illicit 
        revenue  for  foreign diplomats stationed in Canada.   Last  year 
        they bought 557,000 cartons of duty-free cigarettes.  Either they 
        are illegally reselling millions of dollars worth, or there are a 
        lot of high-tension negotiation going on in Canada.
                The  consequences  of  forcing  the  nicotine  trade 
        underground are obvious. Organized crime will get bigger.   There 
        will  be violence; people will get shot over cigarettes.   In  so 
        far  as  prices are raised, addicts will be  impoverished.   Most 
        ironic, government will lose tax revenue.  And addicts will still 
        smoke.
                What  is  less  obvious is the harm  caused  by  the 
        heavily regulated recreational drug regime we have in the  United 
        States.  We have little room to sneer at the Canadians.  Our BATF 
        and FDA prevent safer substitutes for many common drugs of  abuse 
        (including  the  number two killer, alcohol) from being  sold  by 
        legitimate  companies.  Our DEA and local law enforcement  devote 
        billions of dollars to locking up users of drugs far less harmful 
        than nicotine or alcohol.  And as far as nicotine goes, an Ameri-
        can  can  buy cigarettes out of a vending machine,  but  needs  a 
        prescription for a relatively harmless nicotine patch.
                Still, it is tempting to speculate on the future  of 
        Nicotine  Prohibition.  Will the Canadian government  build  more 
        prisons and crack down on nicotine pushers and users? Will  nico-
        tine  testing  be  mandatory in the  workplace?   Will  cigarette 
        prices  go  so  high that users turn to crime  to  finance  their 
        habits?   Will a more concentrated synthetic drug  replace  ciga-
        rettes?  Will your RV be torn apart by Canadian customs agents if 
        you  cross  our northern border?  Will the US  Government  follow 
        suit?  Can Coffee Prohibition be far behind?
                         Stay tuned....

        The  preceding is an article from the January 1993 issue  of 
        Claustrophobia,  an alternative political journal.  For a  sample 
        issue,  send a 29-cent stamp to:  Claustrophobia, 400 N.High  St. 
        #137, Columbus, OH 43215.  A one-year subscription is only $10.