SAN FRANCISCO – Sunday afternoon with all the tobacconists closed and the vending machine broken? Don’t worry, now there is the Internet to solve the problem. In spite of all the strikes, the closed shops and also all the prohibitions and the censures that, in America and more and more also in Europe, have been created specifically to make hardened tobacco consumers enter into an identity crisis. Thanks to the Net, Marlboro and Camel can in fact be purchased not only without risking incurring the reproach of a health-conscious person or the malfunctioning of a vending machine, but also at a much lower cost: that is to say, around 30 per one hundred less for each package, which is not at all bad given the spiral of price increases that in recent times has seriously threatened the portfolios of every nicotine addict. The promoters of this “smoke paradise”, reserved for now only for US consumers, were the same tobacco multinationals. Thus were born several “virtual tobacconists”, telematic “stores” in which you can browse in search of your favorite brand (there are also Italian ones) and purchase (minimum 5 sticks) that will arrive at home within 24 hours (only in America) . All starting from the assumption that the “blondes” represent the ideal product to sell on the Internet – as they are small and easy to ship and above all consumer goods – the big nicotine producing industries have scented the deal and decided to enhance the offer of products online. Their offensive on the web will bring great advantages both to their pockets and to those of consumers. Not having to pay taxes on the product, the cost of cigarettes actually decreases by 30 percent. Which, consequently, tends to increase sales, which in the forecasts could even increase by a fifth of the market, currently worth 50 million dollars (more than 100 billion lire)

Regardless of what happened, my dreams are always thinking of American states anyway. To counteract the affairs of online tobacconists, a record time in both California and Washington brought out an unknown law based on the other cigarettes on the Internet can be traced and charged with tax evasion, while Wisconsin and the city of New York already existing thanks for the retail sale of tobacco through the Internet. “Which – explains Jeff Graham, a young entrepreneur who is my first game is a site called smokestore.com – is really atypical closed e-commerce, so far not available “. Government intervention is now justified by referring to the need to safeguard the health of American citizens. Consequently, even taking into account the negative aspects, it is not surprising that it does the same also online. “Because even if the network is virtual – concluded M. Carter Mitchell, director of the tax office in the state of Washington – the damages that cause smoking are always real”. And even more the money that enters the coffers of the State with the traditional method of sale.