A Mothers Account of the Illicit Market

The news paints a distinct image of the illegal tobacco market. Facts, figures, and operations steer its portrayal. But beyond the figures, what are the human costs of illicit tobacco? In this article, Claire, a working mother, shares her personal story.

When you think of illegal tobacco, two things may spring to mind. The first is the typical image of your local corner shop making a quick buck. Think whispers, and packages handed under the till. The second is organised gangs up and down the country, who are affiliated with multiple (and often very serious) criminal ventures. My account differs from both of these images. This is my personal experience and relates to my family and the impact this market has had on us.

Before I get into it, I’ll share a bit about me. I’m a mother, a wife and I have three children. Like most, my family is everything to me. We are close and go through the same trials and tribulations of life, like everyone else. Forgetting P.E kits, juggling a career, navigating through Covid: my life mirrors a lot of working parents throughout the UK. My relationship with my children is great. We talk, argue, check-in, check-out (university!), and we are generally always there for each other.

When it comes to parenting, we all know that the teenage years can be notoriously difficult. My experience holds no exception. However, this rough patch saw me come face-to-face with the illegal tobacco market, and the very real impacts that it holds. Now, before you think of the Mumsnet version of Law and Order, scale back. Though, if I was given the opportunity to take down the illicit market in a blaze of sirens, I would have done it! As you will discover, my experience is far less dramatic, but it relates to my son and a particularly difficult time for our family.

My son Jacob is incredibly kind, fun and he is an all-round nice person. As a child, he loved school and had a really great group of friends. Then the teenage years rolled in, and we ran into a rough patch (shock horror!). 14 was an age which was steeped in anxiety, arguing and sleepless nights. A large part of this year was dominated by a single theme: smoking.
I first knew something was up when I smelt cigarette smoke. Like countless parents who have danced this dance, my stomach dropped when I first smelt smoke. The excuses ensued, which included the standard line of ‘I was hanging around with people who were smoking’. I am an ex-smoker, so I knew that smell was too strong to come from simply hanging with smokers. My concerns were confirmed when I noticed the nicotine stains on Jacob’s fingers. To see your child’s hands stained like that is simply heart-breaking. Seriously, how much was he smoking? Things got worse when I noticed a nasty hacking cough. That cough was relentless… hearing it was very upsetting.

For anyone who doesn’t have children, it’s a crushing reality seeing the effects of smoking on your child. You carry them for nine months, try and make the best health choices for them, and then… this. It was hard to see the child I had protected and raised for 14 years take up such a damaging habit.

After many denials and stern conversations, I eventually searched his room. I was angry, and I was desperate for concrete proof. I found some packets of cigarettes with the branding in a foreign language. I know now that this is clear indicator that the packets were illegal. I had also found white and shiny ‘singles’ hidden throughout his room. This confirmed everything I had already knew.

Conversations quickly devolved into screaming rows. I’ll hold my hands up and say that both parties were at fault in this respect. I was concerned, and I just wanted to protect him. Many parents will know the feeling of trying to keep your parental cool when warning bells are ringing. It was a particularly stressful time for me and my family…

A sad hallmark of this whole period was finding out the lengths in which my son was going to, to get these cigarettes. It’s my belief that these cigarettes were much stronger than the ones you find in the UK, and so fuelled a pretty strong addiction. To get the cigarettes, he would leave the house in school clothes, and on my way to work I would see him walking back out of uniform. I knew he was walking to the shop and changing, as the shop keepers ‘wouldn’t sell to school children’. Looking back, any form of morality from sellers seems absurd, as Jacob had a baby face and was obviously underage. On top of this, things started to get a lot worse when I noticed money was going missing.

Money missing from my wallet was particularly difficult for me to come to terms with. It’s not who Jacob is and shows the lengths he was willing to go to carry on smoking. It was never a big amount but it was a totally alien for us as a family. In addition to this, my other children also noticed that their money was missing too. Jacob at that time was a child and looking back, it is sad that smoking was causing this.

After a particularly frank conversation with Jacob, I learnt that a local shop was selling to school children, selling packets for £3 and singles for only 10p. Pocket money prices and disregard for my child’s health had caused this. I was angry, and I felt really helpless.

I called the police, but I don’t think anything came of it. After a while everything just built up, and I confronted the shop owner myself. I shouted at him and asked why he thought it was ok to sell to underaged children?! He simply didn’t care. I could see it written all over him, with the total lack of concern. This interaction even ended in him laughing at me. I was furious. In my eyes, he was exploiting children who didn’t know any better, and making money without thinking of the lifelong addictions he was causing. It angers me to see children exploited in this way.

It is worth noting that easy access to cigarettes went hand-in-hand with hanging with peers who smoked. Looking back, a lot of stereotypical elements caused my child to smoke. Peer pressure, tick. Cheap and accessible tobacco, tick. Illicit dealers who don’t care, tick. Out of these elements my anger is mostly focused on the sellers, though. They were adults who should have simply known better. This whole situation could have been avoided if morals came before money.

So where are we now? 4 years later Jacob is off to university. We survived the teen years, and our relationship went back to normal. We have made good headway since those rocky times, yet he still smokes. While he has cut down, I feel like the damage has already been done. On pamphlets you read how illicit tobacco is a gateway for children, and from this experience I can say it really is. I have no doubt that the illegal cigarettes started this journey and caused a strong addiction for my child. Jacob still has a hacking cough at 18, and I still worry about his health and lungs.

As a mother, I will continue to try and get him to quit. This is an exciting time for Jacob (and my family!). It’s great to see him flourish and go to uni, and I hope that this next chapter will see the end of an addiction which has caused a lot of upset in the past. I live in hope.

To parents in the same boat as me: do not give up. Do everything you can to nip smoking and underaged sales in the bud. Report, report, and report again. People often think that illicit tobacco is on the lower end of the crime scale, and therefore is not a serious problem. From my experience, I know that this is a very real problem, which effects many families and children, including my own.

Names have been changed to protect the identity of Claire and her family.