There could soon be efforts by local and provincial health officials to crack down on the sale of illegal cigarettes in Grey Bruce and elsewhere.
Grey Bruce Medical Officer of Health Dr. Hazel Lynn is a member of the Tobacco Strategy Advisory Group which has just released its latest report which outlines a wide range of recommendations for next Ontario government five-year Smoke Free Ontario Strategy.
Doctor Lynn says one of the main areas they are hoping to target the sale of illegal cigarettes to under age teenagers.
She says this is particularly important around schools and other areas where youth gather.
Reducing the availability of tobacco products by reducing the availability of contraband tobacco, is key to assisting youth in not taking up smoking.
Doctor Lynn says one of the recommendations coming from the report surrounding illegal smokes would see legal cigarettes marked differently and those caught will illegal smokes receive a hefty fine.
She says because of the availability of illegal smokes in Grey Bruce their efforts to try and reduce the number of young people smoking are wasted, and they are not seeing any significant reduction in number of smokers.
Doctor Lynn says the Advisory group would also like to see cigarettes sold in a more controlled environment much like liquor and beer are sold in Ontario.
She says the ultimate goal of the group is Five Over Five, or a decrease of 5 percentage points over the next 5 years in the proportion of Ontario smokers who quit smoking (approximately 490 thousand or 23 per cent fewer smokers).
