Checking in on Australia: with cigarette taxes rising to $1.40 per stick (Australian$), the illicit market is poised to overtake the legal market for tobacco with a street value that exceeds cocaine, MDMA, heroin, and cannabis and combined.
Illegal tobacco is big business, and retail giants are counting the cost
Coles, Woolies and IGA are losing a multibillion-dollar tobacco battle with a vicious new competitor, organised crime, and it is costing us all dearly.
smh.com.au