Prohibition works again. Oh, wait ...
"Australia’s illegal tobacco problem has made the proverbial transition from tragedy to farce.
"Illicit, excise-evading cigarettes now comprise half of the cancer-inducing products sold to Australia’s 2.7 million smokers. ...
"We can now conclude that the strategy of taxing and banning nicotine addiction out of existence is a complete failure.
"The result is that organised crime is making about $10 billion a year in revenue. ...
"It means Australia’s criminals are better paid than they have ever been, and the result is showing up in an explosion in both the amount of crime and its brazenness.
"And because the people engaged in this 'industry' are gangsters, competition is not met by price wars and the Competition and Consumer Commission, but by burning your competitor’s business to the ground, or, as happened last week, by allegedly murdering your competitor’s staff. ...
"Victoria's coat of arms bears the phrase "Peace and Prosperity", but there's a lot more of the latter in that state these days than the former, and that's not saying much.
"Violent robberies in Victoria have grown by more than 150 per cent since February 2024 due to tobacco-related crime.
"This is much worse than an unintended consequence of the effort to reduce smoking; it is a complete stuff-up."
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