Coalition says youth are target of contraband tobacco

The seizure of $14,000 worth of illegal cigarettes last week in Pictou County has caught the attention of the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco.  Jacqueline Bradley, executive director of the coalition, phoned this newspaper to publicly express what she believes is a growing trend in Eastern Canada. She said she first became involved in the topic when her 15-year-old daughter came home from a party talking about people passing around cigarettes in a plastic baggie. She did some research and discovered it was contraband smokes.  “For me the only thing I want my kids taking out of a baggie is their lunch,” she said.  Youth are one of the main targets of contraband cigarettes and that’s something she says parents should be concerned about. “We have no way of truly knowing what’s in them because there is no control.”