Smokes To Jump, Crimes To Follow

[The Straight Story]

COLUMBUS, Ohio—It’s big news for smokers. A new federal increase on tobacco means it will cost more to light up.

It’s a $.62 jump per pack and a bigger increase for loose tobacco.

Some smokers said it’s enough to make them quit. Others said they’re trying to stock up before the date.

Others said they’re worried about possible crime.
...

Kuhn’s job is about to get a lot more dangerous.

“I won’t have people come in stealing my money. They’ll come in and say, ‘Give me all your cigarettes.‘ “

This week’s Central Ohio Crime Stoppers’ crime of the week was a perfect example.

The United Dairy Farmers convenience store at 1341 Georgesville Rd. was robbed at about 1:53 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23, according to police.

Two unknown black males allegedly stole more than $900 worth of cigars.

http://www.nbc4i.com/cmh/news/local/article/smokes_to_jump_crimes_to_follow/14324/

[virgogal]

1. Bootlegging cigs is a growth industry.

[pacalo]

2. How long before smokers begin growing their own tobacco in their home closets?

And before there's a new cabinet member called the Tobacco Czar?

And why is this sin tax directed at tobacco only? How about bullets & alcohol?

:mad:

[The Straight Story]

4. Don't worry, the fundies will save the souls of those folks next. No more SIN

but if you do you sin, you have to pay the pope :)

[dysfunctional press]

19. growing tobacco is a lot different than growing pot, though...

they don't call it 'weed' for nothing- it'll grow almost anywhere.

[Deja Q]

3. Well, let's get to know them. Cheap, partially illegal ciggies will be nice to have again.

:crazy:

[The Straight Story]

5. Mark my words on this:

Once people start growing their own they will tax the seeds or find a reason why you should not be allowed to.

Control, it's what's for dinner.

[Kansas Wyatt]

6. Time for Indian Reservations to expand their market share.

Would a purchase at an Indian Reservation website be considered on the Reservation itself?

[ddeclue]

7. I'm all for it... maybe it will make existing illegal drugs less interesting to the smugglers

and hey our illegal drug money will end up in KY, VA, NC, and TN instead of in South America.

:rofl:

[LooseWilly]

8. Once upon a time I met a Canadian in Guatemala

... he bought cigarettes from the Native Americans (who weren't charged the import taxes to bring them in from the States), and then turned around and sold them to fellow Canadians.
It was his profession, and it paid well enough for him to travel to Guatemala on vacation...


Ohh, and here in California, if you can find a pack of cigarettes for less than $5.00 you've found a bargain. Cartons go for at least $35. And then, to add insult to injury, you're not allowed to smoke them anywhere near a public place... and 2 towns over from me you're not even allowed to smoke them in your own apartment (after all, second hand smoke can pass through walls, leap tall buildings, kill almost as surely as a bullet...).
I feel for Ohio... but if a smoker wants to truly know scorn/persecution... you need to visit Belmont CA.

Ohh yeah, and I suppose those cigars weren't Swisher Sweets meant to be turned into blunts... so it sounds to me like the lowering of gas prices has allowed thugs to commute into new neighborhoods to "do crimes" more than any spike in tobacco related crime.

[B o d i]

11. It turned out Big Tobacco was behind a lot of that smuggling

and they eventually were found guilty in court and fined over a billion dollars (Cdn).

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/business/01tobacco.html

[JesterCS]

9. I'll probably start ordering them from abroad or

from reservations.. last i checked you can get Marlboros for around $20/carton from Russia

[MadHound]

10. The whole Catch-22 nature of this tax hike is bizarre

Smoke more! Sixty two cents of your cigarette purchase goes to helping small children get much needed heath care!

Smoke less! It's bad for your health, which is why he just hiked the taxes through the roof, to force you to quit, so more people are quitting and small children can't get as much of that much needed health care. Really now, :wtf:

[Richard Steele]

12. HELLO, lucrative smuggling career!

HMM...my car gets 32mpg highway; I could drive all the way
to the southern East Coast and back in a 15-hour trip,
and turn more profit on a trunkload of cigarettes
than my legitimate job pays in a week.

:think:



And there's about a MILLION other folks doing that same math right now.

[roody]

13. It should still be affordable to roll your own.

[Hannah Bell]

17. $23/lb. tax hike on loose tobacco.

[roody]

18. Wow! I haven't smoked for 30 years! It is still way

cheaper to roll your own.

[MrSlayer]

14. Cigarettes are already "falling off" of trucks everywhere.

Canada tried taxing cigarettes into oblivion and it didn't work. And it won't work here. People always find a way around these heinous taxes.

[1]

15. smoke-easies will open up across the country. smoke-leggers will usurp our traditional values...

it will be chaos!

young girls wearing short skirts and dancing the hoochie-coo.

we must stop this madness now!

[excess_3]

16. are cured tobacco-leaves buyable somewhere? n/t