Petition Stub out illegal tobacco trade

We the undersigned call upon the Government to toughen up the penalties available to the relevant authorities for prosecuting criminals involved in the illegal tobacco trade, to recognise the grave threat it poses to our communities in terms of crime and undermining health agencies' efforts to get smokers to quit, and to ask the Government to pledge to tackle the discrepancies between the punishments for comparatively similar drugs cases and bring the penalties for illicit tobacco offences in line with drugs offences.
We ask the Government to recognise that the profits made by criminals in tobacco smuggling/selling cases are often much more than those made from drugs, with less serious consequences for the criminal. This needs to change.