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It was perhaps inevitable that Quebec would launch a lawsuit against Big Tobacco, as it did last week when it filed a $60.7 billion action in Superior Court. The provincial government is following in the footsteps of other jurisdictions that have taken similar action to recover what they claim are health-care costs for patients with smoking-related illnesses. Since the Supreme Court of Canada authorized such lawsuits seven years ago, all Canadian provinces are now either suing or are planning to sue. Quebec’s suit targets 10 tobacco companies as well as the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers’ Council.

In announcing the lawsuit, Health Minister Yves Bolduc said that smoking-related illnesses tend to be extremely expensive to treat and are the principal causes of hospitalization. As such, they are a significant factor in Quebec’s runaway health costs. The Lung Association estimates that tobacco kills about 45,000 Canadians each year, more than the total number of deaths from AIDS, car accidents, suicide, murder, fires and accidental poisonings combined.

Justice Minister Jean-Marc Fournier indicated that the government will claim that the tobacco industry acted in such a way as to make the consumption of cigarettes attractive, and made efforts to downplay the impact of prevention messages by health authorities. The Canadian suits will lean heavily on the precedent of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement south of the border, whereby seven major tobacco companies agreed out of court to pay roughly $206 billion to 46 American states, plus an additional $1.5 billion for an anti-smoking campaign.

In addition, they agreed to disclose confidential industry documents and to disband industry promotion groups said by critics to be engaged in sowing doubts about the dangers of tobacco consumption. But even with that precedent and the overwhelming evidence about the health hazards associated with smoking, the Canadian lawsuits are not necessarily a slam dunk for the governments that have brought them. The industry will mount a vigorous defence based on insistence that the dangers of smoking have been well-known for decades, and certainly during the period since 1970 that the Quebec claim covers.

It will lean on the common-law doctrine that no injury is done to people who willingly put themselves at risk, in this case by choosing to smoke in the first place. It is also likely to be argued that governments have been complicit in the health ravages caused by smoking since they have allowed tobacco products to be freely sold, and that their legal action is somewhat hypocritical in that they have raked in billions upon billions of dollars in tobacco taxes over the years.

Quebec, for example, collected $3.3 billion in tobacco-tax revenue over the past five fiscal years. In the last fiscal year alone, the combined federal and provincial take was $7.5 billion. And lest we forget, Montreal’s Olympic Stadium with its proud tower was paid off in major part by tobacco taxes. In turn, governments will maintain that tobacco taxes are a deterrent to people buying cigarettes and have – along with smoking bans in public places – greatly reduced smoking in recent years. This is true, but only to a certain extent. A Concordia University study found that for every 10-per-cent increase in cigarette taxes between 1998 and 2008 there was a 2.3-per-cent overall drop in smoking.

But it found that the drop was less than half that in the 25-to-44 age group, which had the highest proportion of smokers, and among smokers with high incomes, for whom the price increase was a negligible consideration. It would be a good thing if the government were able to wring some significant compensation from Big Tobacco for the ravages that smoking has inflicted on public health.

It would be better if tobacco products were not so readily available as they are now – though a ban, as the health minister observed, is not something society could readily accommodate at present. Best of all would be for individuals, one by one, to assume responsibility for their own health and decide either to quit smoking or not to start in the first place.

Gov. Pat Quinn signed a package of bills into law Thursday that will slash health care coverage for the poor and hike cigarette taxes by $1-a-pack to help pay for the struggling Medicaid program.

“One of our most important missions in Springfield this year was to save Medicaid from the brink of collapse,” Quinn said in a statement, adding. “we preserved our health care program that millions of our most vulnerable rely upon.”

The package will take health coverage away from hundreds of thousands of lower income people on July 1st, unless they fall under stricter qualification standards. The bills will also kill a prescription drug program for seniors.

Doctors and hospitals, that provide care to the poor, will be paid less. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services has already sent out letters informing recipients that they will no longer qualify for care or face reduced services.

Quinn is also signing a bill that raises the state taxes on tobacco products by one dollar. That additional revenue will also go toward funding Medicaid. Opponents say that will push smokers to buy their cigarettes in neighboring states.

Gov. Pat Quinn achieved one of his top legislative priorities Thursday, signing a $2.7 billion package of cuts and taxes designed to repair a long-term deficit in the state’s Medicaid program. The Chicago Democrat signed five bills, including a tax increase on cigarettes of $1 a pack and $1.6 billion in Medicaid spending reductions.

The cuts will mean leaner services for the state’s 2.7 million Medicaid patients. More than 25,000 working parents will lose state-funded insurance coverage. “One of our most important missions in Springfield this year was to save Medicaid from the brink of collapse,” Quinn said. “I applaud the members of our working group and of the General Assembly, who worked together in a bipartisan manner to tackle a grave crisis.”

Quinn’s move drew criticism from advocates for the poor, who complained the governor and state lawmakers could have closed corporate “loopholes” to make up for Medicaid shortfalls rather than wringing savings from the state’s most vulnerable populations. “The governor has repeatedly said these cuts are necessary to save Medicaid. That’s a false choice,” said William McNary, co-director of Citizen Action, which lobbied against the cuts.

“Saving money on the backs of the most vulnerable members of our community so other members of the community can have health care is like asking Sophie to choose between her daughter and her son’s life. There are going to be casualties,” he said.

The cuts — which take effect July 1 — will mean leaner services for the state’s 2.7 million Medicaid patients. More than 25,000 working parents will lose state-funded insurance coverage. Illinois is eliminating extras such as regular dental care for adults. Medicaid will no longer cover visits to chiropractors and only people with diabetes can see podiatrists. Eyeglasses will be limited to one pair every two years. Prior state approval will be required for wheelchair repairs, heart bypass surgery and obesity surgery. Patients will be limited to four prescription drugs per month without prior approval.

The cuts end a program called Illinois Cares Rx that helped nearly 200,000 senior citizens with prescription drug costs. Investor-owned hospitals got a new tax break in the legislation, and nonprofit hospitals, which were in jeopardy of losing valuable property tax exemptions because of an Illinois Supreme Court ruling, won a broad definition of charity care that will allow them to avoid paying property taxes.

Cook County’s health system gained a clear path to federal matching money in an early Medicaid expansion tied to President Barack Obama’s federal health-care overhaul.

Cigarette inventory is low across the state of Illinois, and one organization says it comes from a combination of customers hoarding and the state holding back on cigarette stamps ahead of a new tax increase. Customers are stocking up on smokes, buying extra packs and cartons before the price goes up.

"It's a guy that usually buys one carton," William Fleischli, Vice President of the Illinois Association of Convenience stores told the State Journal-Register. "Now he wants to buy two or three, trying to save $18 or $20." Fleischli said the state of Illinois is holding back on the sale of tax stamps, which are required to sell cigarettes at retail.

"They're restricting the sale of a product in anticipation of a product going up in price," he said. "They're going to gain because the price goes up." The Department of Revenue spokesman Greg Rivara disputed that claim and said stamp availability was increased by 25 percent.

The department is not allowing stores to purchase more than their average number of stamps for this time of year, but the 25 percent increase was intended for the seasonal rise in smoking and the influx of those trying to detour the tax hike, the State Journal-Register reported.

Another recent tax increase is already having an effect on tobacco sellers in Illinois "After March 1 when Cook County raised their taxes, I lost about--between 15 to 20 percent of my business," Illinois tobacco shop owner Jawad Muqeet said. "The prices are so high nobody wants to buy cigarettes in downtown"

Indiana tobacco sellers could gain from the this increase. Hammond smoke shop owner Roni Patel says a carton of Marlboro cigarettes costs $56 on average in Indiana, compared to $50 in Will County, Illinois.

He says the average price per carton in Will County will raise to $61 following the tax increase, expected to go into effect June 24. Patel is hopeful about his prospects under the new law. "Hopefully, yeah. We will make a fortune, you know," he said.

A Michigan detective can credit legwork, luck and one man’s bad habit for his latest arrest. A Traverse City police detective went to a local gas station Thursday to show clerks a surveillance video image of someone accused of stealing a woman’s credit card a week before. The man Detective Kevin Gay was looking for was buying a pack of cigarettes there.

Capt. Brian Heffner, who leads the detective bureau, said a chance encounter like this is rare but welcome. “The odds are definitely against this happening. … On the exact day and time he’s in there, the suspect is buying a pack of cigarettes,’’ Heffner told the Traverse City Record-Eagle for a story (http://bit.ly/JWEukm) published Saturday.

The man, 51, was arrested and faces charges of unlawful use of a credit card, the newspaper reports. Police said the suspect had used the credit card at two area stations, including the one where he was nabbed.

Tobacco companies accused the Australian government of destroying the value of their trademarks by forcing them to strip logos off cigarette packs as a court battle over the world's toughest laws on cigarette promotion drew to a close Thursday. There was no immediate ruling following the three-day hearing in Australia's High Court on whether strict plain-packaging laws violate the country's constitution. The laws ban tobacco companies from displaying their distinctive colors, brand designs and logos on cigarette packs in a bid to make smoking less attractive.

Cigarettes will instead be sold in drab, olive green packs, featuring graphic health warnings and images of cancer-riddled mouths and bulging, blinded eyeballs. The law takes effect in December. British American Tobacco, Philip Morris International, Imperial Tobacco and Japan Tobacco International have all challenged the new rules on the grounds that they violate intellectual property rights and devalue their trademarks. The companies are worried that the law will set a global precedent that could slash billions of dollars from the values of their brands.

The tobacco companies' main argument is that the government would unfairly benefit from the law by using cigarette packs as a platform to promote its own message, without compensating the cigarette makers. Australia's constitution says the government can only acquire the property of others on "just terms." Gavan Griffith, a lawyer representing Japan Tobacco International, said the government was attempting to appropriate 100 percent of the back of each packet and 70 percent of the front.

"We say our trademarks are extinguished," he told the court in the capital, Canberra. Commonwealth Solicitor-General Stephen Gageler, representing the government, rejected that argument. "The suggestion that tobacco packets will become little billboards for government advertising is wrong," Gageler told the court.

The law is about public health, Gageler said — not about the government acquiring intellectual property. "On that argument, the tobacco companies for the last 40 years or so have been frogs slowly boiling, with the gradual taking of their property," he said. Gageler said the law was simply a product standard, along the lines of regulations requiring other potentially harmful substances such as rat poison to carry warnings about safe handling. In response, Griffith held up a package of rat poison before the court and noted the warning on the poison was far more modest than the graphic warnings required on cigarette packs. The court is expected to rule on the challenge later this year.

A Los Alamitos doctor is under fire for opposing a ballot measure that would add a $1 tax to a pack of cigarettes and other tobacco products, raising $700 million a year for cancer research. Proposition 29 supporters vowed to picket outside the office of internist Marcy Zwelling at the Los Alamitos Medical Center on Wednesday.

In a statement released Tuesday, Prop. 29 supporters described the protest as “a demonstration in Los Alamitos to demand that Dr. Marcy Zwelling stop serving as a spokesperson for Big Tobacco and immediately rescind her opposition to the Proposition 29 campaign. Big Tobacco used Dr. Zwelling as a ballot signatory against Prop 29. Prop 29 supporters want to know why a doctor would serve as a spokesperson for an industry that killed over 100 million people in the twentieth century.”

However, Zwelling said her stance on the measure is not about condoning tobacco use. Rather, she said, it’s about opposition to ineffectual government bureaucracy funded by taxpayer’s money. “It’s a free country and, therefore, people should be able to speak their minds,” Zwelling said of the planned protest. She suggested Proposition 29 supporters haven’t read the ballot measure or studied its consequences.

“It’s not about stopping smoking,” she said. “I would agree that everyone should stop smoking.” California already has the second-lowest smoking rate in the country, Zwelling said. Increasing taxes won’t stop people from smoking, but it will create more bureaucracy, she added. “I just think it’s the wrong bill, and we can do better than that,” said Zwelling.

About 15 percent -- more than $100 million -- of the taxes raised annually under Prop. 29 would go toward construction of new buildings to house more bureaucracy, said Zwelling. Zwelling is misrepresenting the tax, said Charlie Smith, a volunteer for the American Cancer Society and former chairman of the board for the society’s California division.

Sixty percent of the money raised would go toward cancer research, 20 percent for cessation and prevention programs, 15 percent to build facilities for tobacco-related cancer research, 3 percent to police agencies to enforce tobacco laws, and 2 percent toward administrative costs. “The Center for Disease Control has come out with a very in-depth study showing that for every 10 percent increase in the price of tobacco, [2] percent of adults quit and 7 percent of youths stop smoking,” said Smith. "By increasing the cost by $1, more than 100,000 adults lives are going to be saved, and 228,000 children alive today are not going to smoke.”

The vast majority of the medical community supports the measure, including the 35,000-strong California Medical Association, which voted to endorse Prop 29, said Smith. In staging the protest, Prop. 29 supporters hope to get out the message that “just because the tobacco companies can find one or two doctors in the entire state,” it doesn’t mean that the medical community opposes the measure, said Smith.

On June 5, voters will decide the fate of the initiative, which is described on the ballot as imposing an “additional $1.00 per pack tax on cigarettes and an equivalent tax increase on other tobacco products. Revenues fund research for cancer and tobacco-related diseases. Fiscal impact: Net increase in cigarette excise tax revenues of about $735 million annually by 2013-14 for certain research and tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Other sales and local revenue increases amounting to tens of millions of dollars annually.”

At Wednesday’s protest, volunteers will ask people to sign a petition asking Zwelling to rescind her opposition to Prop 29. The effort is largely funded by Yes on 29, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and American Cancer Society Ballot Committee.

In a 6-1 vote, with councilman Jay Higginbotham opposed, town council adopted an anti-tobacco policy asking the public to “refrain from using tobacco products within 50-feet of playgrounds, courts, ball fields, pavilions and bleachers.” It is the first locality inCentral Virginiato adopt a formal tobacco-free policy.

Signs that read: “Please no tobacco use” due to community values, healthy and safe environments, will now be posted at town-owned facilities. The proposal, which does not have the force of law behind it, initially inspired controversy in March with residents concerned about personal rights. But the very same issue garnered no speakers at Tuesday night’s public hearing, motivating council to approve the proposal. According to the Dillon Rule, which applies to all Virginia localities, Altavista does not have the legal authority to prohibit outdoor tobacco use or enforce such a policy.

“I have some reservations because I was a smoker once too but I think this is fair,” Mayor Rudy Burgess said. “As you know we can’t make you do it, all we can do is ask you to do it.” The idea was pitched in February by the town’s recreation committee, which was looking at long-range policies and youth sports. According to the committee, tobacco use has created trash problems as well as health challenges in a town that is a haven for little league baseball fans.

Town staff will now meet with various organizations to inform them of the policy and will periodically visit activity sites to monitor compliance and “promote awareness.” Council also unanimously approved a 5 percent utility rate increase affecting the town’s water and sewer rates. No one spoke in favor of, or against, the increase at the evening’s public hearing.

“I think it reflects tonight that nobody’s speaking against it that they feel like we are fair, we are trying to be fair,” Burgess said as he closed the public hearing. Water rates will increase by about .09 cents per 1,000 gallons and sewer rates will increase by about .13 cents per 1,000 gallons.

Rates were increased according to a multi-year plan designed to make the utility self-sustainable. “It’s something that we’ve needed to do and we’ve got to do,” Burgess said.

The Hazelwood School District (HSD) officially no longer accepts any form of smoking or tobacco on its premises from adults or students. The district adopted a tobacco-free policy earlier in the year, which now prohibits staff and faculty from smoking in district vehicles, outside of school buildings, away from students in outside areas, and on anything deemed Hazelwood School District property. This includes when school is not in session.

The same rules apply to students and HSD visitors. During a February board of education meeting the issue was discussed deeply and at that time, Diane Livingston, president of the Hazelwood National Education Association, requested the board of education pull the matter from voting so staff and faculty could submit input.

"We want it to be proactive on health and a little less threatening," she said. The policy states the use of any tobacco products by any school employee is also prohibited at school-sponsored functions on district property, and off district property if the employee is acting in his or her official capacity as an employee of the district.

Dolores Gun, director of the St. Louis County Department of Health was also present at that meeting in support of the measure passing. "We are asking you to adopt the tobacco free policy," she said. "What people do in their private homes or outside is their thing, but we're talking about public places and our children." "I'm very proud that Hazelwood is considering this."

Smoking could get more costly in Missouri if a proposed ballot initiative, which would raise the state’s lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax by 73 cents a pack, is approved by voters in November. Those who would feel the tax hike most are understandably unhappy.

“I really don’t like it, but there’s not much I can do about it,” said Darrell Allen of Hannibal, following a visit to the Smoke House to purchase cigarettes. “They should raise the taxes on alcohol before the tobacco tax, but that would make the drinkers and politicians mad.”

“Everything is going up and now we’ll have more tax on cigarettes. They’re trying to make everybody quit,” said Raymond Nicosia of Hannibal outside the Mark Twain Avenue tobacco shop. “Myself, I don’t think they should make it any higher than it is now. They should find some other way to raise money.” Driving to Hannibal to visit the Smoke House was Angel Barnes of Kinderhook, Ill.

“It’s closer to come here than Quincy or Pittsfield,” she said. “When I come over (to Hannibal), I stock up on cigarettes and gas because they’re way cheaper.” Barnes is not surprised that an effort is under way to raise Missouri’s tobacco tax. “I do know Missouri has not raised theirs and they’re behind the curve,” she said. “As a consumer, I don’t like it. But they’ve got to raise money some way.”

The key Camel and Pall Mall brands posted a relatively steady quarter. Camel in particular fared well as volume rose 4.4% and market share inched up 0.1 percentage point. Pall Mall's market share was flat at 8.5%, though volume dropped 5.2% as the line sees competition from lower-priced line extensions from Altria's Marlboro and Lorillard Inc.'s (LO) Newport, as well as standalone brands like L&M and Maverick.

Citi analyst Vivien Azer called Camel's volume growth "a welcome surprise," saying she had been concerned that the brand would come under more pressure from Altria's repackaged products and the promotion of Marlboro Black.

The brand benefited from growing interest in Camel Crush and Camel Crush Bold, which incorporate a capsule technology that allows consumers to release menthol in the filter. Both of those products contributed to the brand's growth in the first quarter.

Total R.J. Reynolds cigarette market share dropped 1.2 percentage points to 26.8%. Analysts praised two rounds of price increases by the three largest U.S. tobacco companies last year, as it signaled they continue to command strong pricing power. The price rises were enacted even as state excise taxes have been fairly muted. After surveying tobacco-industry trade contacts, Wells Fargo recently said another round of retail price hikes could be coming in May or June.

Reynolds American maintained it expected state excise taxes in the 5-cent to 10-cent range this year. Pending initiatives are being considered in California, Missouri, Illinois and Rhode Island. Chief Financial Officer Thomas Adams said Reynolds American repurchased 6.3 million shares for $261 million in the first quarter. He said the company ended the quarter with $2.4 billion in cash balances.

Dividend yields and strong cash flows drew investors to tobacco stocks last year, but shares of the four major publicly traded companies have been mixed in 2012 as the industry's valuations are at the upper end of the historical range.

Tax changes have boosted national pipe tobacco sales by 840 percent in the past three years, leading to calls for equalizing federal taxes for all tobacco products and creating a robust market for do-it-yourself cigarette-rolling machines. The April 2009 tax changes caused more smokers to buy pipe tobacco for rolling cigarettes, which they call “sticks.” At the same time, the demand for now-heavily taxed “roll-your-own” tobacco plummeted.

To make those cigarettes, more smokers are using a machine developed and produced in the Youngstown area. A user inserts tobacco and cigarette tubes into the “RYO Filling Station” to avoid buying packaged cigarettes. Tobacco taxes affect Ohio’s estimated 1.7 million smokers. In 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranked Ohio 35th nationally with an adult smoking rate of 20.1 percent.

The state’s 12.9 percent youth (ages 12-17) smoking rate is 46th in the U.S. The Government Accountability Office, which recently released a report on the 2009 tax changes, suggests that the country follow Ohio’s method of equalizing taxes. In Ohio, all noncigarette tobacco products are taxed at 17 percent of the wholesale price, although the American Lung Association in Ohio has been asking lawmakers to significantly increase that rate.

The GAO said it would like to see RYO and pipe tobacco taxed at the same rate. Currently, RYO tobacco is federally taxed at $24.78 per pound, compared with pipe tobacco’s $2.83 per pound. Meanwhile, critics of the RYO machine are asking for the machine-rolled cigarettes to be taxed for production, which would end their economic advantage. The machines have been controversial enough in the smoking world that multiple local shop owners who offer them declined to comment.

The change in buying patterns doesn’t have as strong of an effect on Ohio because of its flat tax rate on all non-cigarette tobacco products. However, local tobacco outlet operators said they have seen more customers drive to Pennsylvania and buy tobacco products in bulk because it is the only state that doesn’t tax snuff, chewing and smoking tobacco or large cigars.

It’s easy for tobacco companies to help customers avoid some taxes, tobacco enthusiasts said. According to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, little more is necessary than changes in packaging and labeling to change RYO tobacco to the lesser-taxed pipe tobacco.

“In pipe tobacco, you’re generally enjoying the aroma and some flavor,” said Jason Clyburn, manager at The Wharf tobacco shop in Beavercreek. “The roll-your-own, they have their own pipe cut, and basically it’s regular cigarette tobacco with a bigger, heavier, leafy cut, the way a traditional pipe tobacco has. That’s how they’re skating around the (RYO taxes).”

After a year-long investigation by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a federal grand jury has indicted nine people, including two Naperville men, in connection with contraband marlboro cigarette trafficking and evading state and local taxes in excess of $1 million, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin announced Friday.

Mohammad Uddin, 29, and Ahsan Uddin, 27, of Naperville, were named in the indictment, according to a news release from James L. Santelle, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. The indictment says the nine defendants conspired to possess and transport unstamped cigarettes in quantities of 10,000 or more from Wisconsin to Illinois to evade Illinois state and local taxes, according to Santelle.

In addition, the indictment also alleges that individual defendants possessed and transported between one and 182 cases (or between 12,000 to over 2 million cigarettes), and collectively they evaded between $1 million and $4.6 million in state and local taxes. According to the news release Mohammad Uddin and two other defendants also allegedly sold quantities of counterfeit Wisconsin and Illinois tax stamps.

Mohammad Uddin was charged with conspiracy, 21 counts of contraband cigarette trafficking, and one count of possession and sale of counterfeit tax stamps. Ahsan Uddin was charged with conspiracy and four counts of contraband cigarette trafficking, according to Santelle. “The defendants conspired to evade the established cigarette tax laws of the States of Illinois and Wisconsin for the express purpose of self-enrichment; in doing so, they also prevented the legitimate collection of millions of dollars in state revenues,” Santelle said in the news release.

“Their trafficking in contraband cigarettes, including their use of counterfeit tax stamps, has been the focus of a productive and extensive investigation by the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, resulting in the grand jury indictment. In cooperation with our federal investigative partner, our office will prosecute this matter—and others like it that similarly involve the possession and transportation of contraband goods—to ensure the integrity of the state tax systems from which all law-abiding citizens benefit.”

Santelle said each conspiracy and contraband cigarette trafficking offense is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Each counterfeit tax offense is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Cigarette smuggling in Maryland is on the rise, according to Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot. "We've got an epidemic of this smuggling in our state," Franchot said during a Thursday news conference in Towson with Baltimore County State's AttorneyScott Shellenberger.

Police confiscated $10,000 in alleged contraband cigarettes during a traffic stop near White Marsh involving a Honda Accord two weeks ago. The state comptroller said his office has prosecuted more cases of cigarette smuggling "in the last nine months than we have in the previous five years."

In Baltimore County, there have been 20 formal cigarette smuggling investigations since mid-2006 resulting in the arrest of 28 individuals. Twenty-one of those arrests have been in this year alone, according to statistics provided by the state comptroller's office. The arrests have resulted in the seizure of more than 100,000 packs of cigarettes valued at $600,000.

"It's become the go-to crime for not just for petty criminals, which it used to be, but for big time gangs," Franchot said. "When we interview them and say why are you engaging in all this cigarette smuggling they say there's more money in it than we get from heroin and the penalties are insignificant."

So far in fiscal 2012, Comptroller agents have confiscated nearly $1.7 million worth of contraband cigarettes and arrested 166 individuals throughout the state. A carton of cigarettes that costs $41 in Virginia, where taxes run about 30 cents a pack, can be sold in Maryland for $62 and in New York for $112.

Oh, the tobacco industry – what a lovable bunch of soulless death merchants they can be sometimes. Two tobacco companies have appealed to the Ontario Superior Court to strike down federal regulations that require all cigarette packages in Canada to feature warning labels that take up 75 per cent of a pack of cigarettes, claiming that the rule infringes on their Charter-guaranteed freedom of expression.

Imperial Tobacco and JTI-Macdonald, two of the biggest tobacco manufacturers in Canada, claim that such regulations are (seriously) “avoiding the country’s number one tobacco problem, the illegal tobacco market (that) avoids all taxes and current regulations.”

Yep, those illegal contraband smokes are a far bigger concern than the billions of dollars that (perfectly legal) cigarette smoking bleeds from the country's healthcare systems. Anyhow, Canadian courts have ruled previously that warning labels that take up 50 per cent of a package are perfectly legal and congruent with the Charter, but let's hope that those delightful rogues responsible for the deaths of millions of people around the world can finally win a little respect from the country's legal minds.