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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/nov/02/burning-out-how-australias-bid-to-cut-smoking-rates-exploded-into-suburban-tobacco-wars>
"There are three tobacconists in a strip of no more than a dozen shops on the
same side of a street in Melbourne’s west. Earlier this year, someone reached
between the metal bars protecting one shop, smashed the front window and flung
a molotov cocktail inside.
Eight days later, a driver rammed the security screen at a second store and
tried to set it alight before fleeing. A jerry can was left on the street as if
in homage to the failed arson.
Such fires at such stores have occurred on high streets across Victoria over
the past 18 months. In most cases, the businesses are still trading, neon signs
flashing and customers coming and going.
There is no indication they were so recently embroiled in a fight between
organised crime groups that is threatening one of Australia’s signature public
health achievements: reducing the rate of smoking. Arson attacks across four
states have left the federal government in a particularly invidious position:
wedged between underworld figures and big tobacco companies.
While the firebombings – of which there have been more than 120 since the start
of last year – have captured attention, there has been little consideration of
how the problem of illicit tobacco built over the past decade during a time
Australia was becoming a world leader in restricting tobacco use.
Nearly 30 people were contacted for this story. None suggested maintaining the
status quo.
Many acknowledged the bind the government was in: if it blinks on the excise
for legal tobacco and make the illicit market less valuable, it would probably
improve the bottom line for multinational tobacco companies."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
