CANADA: GOVERNMENT AD TRIES TO SHAME STORE OVER CIGARETTE SALES

Source: Globe and Mail
Date: Tuesday, January 8, 2002
Author: ROBERT MATAS - Page A5
URL: here

If a building could blush, a Pharmasave store in a mall in downtown
Vancouver would be bright red.

The store has been featured in a large advertisement bought by the British
Columbia government, in the province's major dailies, announcing it broke
the law by selling tobacco to minors and that its licence to sell tobacco
has been suspended for six months.

"We cannot sell tobacco because we were convicted of tobacco sales
offences, including selling tobacco to a minor," the ad states.

Unlike Ontario and Quebec, British Columbia allows drug stores to sell
cigarettes.

However, the province, which has the lowest smoking rate in the country,
has an aggressive enforcement program to stop sales to people under the age
of 19. The government has a team of minors who try to buy cigarettes.