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When I was a kid in small-town Ontario, buying tax-free cigarettes was a lot like buying marijuana - you went to the guy who was known to sell them, who was usu
by gyardley 14y ago
When I was a kid in small-town Ontario, buying tax-free cigarettes was a lot like buying marijuana - you went to the guy who was known to sell them, who was usually hanging around the high school, and he hooked you up.
In my day the cigarettes were name brands, sold to low-tax American states and then smuggled back into Canada through Indian reservations - you couldn't tell you were smoking smuggled cigarettes by looking at the butts. Now Indian reservations manufacture their own untaxed cigarettes - which is completely legal, when bought and smoked on the reservation. However, they're also illegally sold off the reservation.
In Ontario at least, it's against the law to buy these cigarettes off the reservation. The penalty is a fine. Enforcement, for the individual buyers, is pretty much non-existent.
- purephase 14y agoIt's even easier than that. I know of local stores in my area (heart of the GTA) that sell them over-the-counter. You just have to know how to ask.
- theorique 14y agoMakes sense, I'm from Ontario too and I knew kids in school who got cigs (under 18) but since I didn't smoke I never tracked down how to do it.