Up in smoke - How the tobacco ban in South Africa stoked up an illicit industry скачать в хорошем качестве

Up in smoke - How the tobacco ban in South Africa stoked up an illicit industry

In May 2020, the South African public was taken aback when the government banned the trade in tobacco products – ostensibly because smoking made people more vulnerable to COVID-19 and local hospitals lacked the resources to treat all the acute cases coming through their doors. The action caused an outcry – both amongst smokers and amongst the multiple parties in the tobacco supply chain whose livelihoods were now at risk because of a flimsy, unproven scientific theory. What happened next is not surprising. Banning the trade in tobacco simply added more fuel to South Africa’s already vibrant black market in tobacco products.