Convenience stores across the province wants the Government to introduce a cut on taxes imposed on cigarettes in a view to launch a combat against the soaring sale of illegal tobacco, an issue shopkeepers find is resulting in organized crime, attracting kids to smoke and harming their bottom line.

The society estimates smoking engulfs three times more Canadians prematurely compared to deaths due to car accidents, suicides, drug abuse, murder and AIDS combined.

"There's no question about it, when contraband is five times cheaper than the legal product there's too much of a price gap and that's an issue," quoted, Steve Dunne of the Canadian Convenience Store Association.

The association is revealed to have initiated a study observing 6,000 plus cigarette butts picked up outside of high schools and federal government buildings across Atlantic Canada.

It is posted that about 50 percent of cigarettes found outside of Moncton High School were illegal cigarettes - the highest percentage recorded in the Maritimes, however, just six per cent were illegal in front of Saint John High School - the lowest in Atlantic Canada.

Most illegal cigarettes are witnessed to be smuggled into New Brunswick from the United States by way of Ontario and Quebec and are sold out in plastic bags for a mere $1.50 a pack.