# Canadian cigarette packs - unique size and shape? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 27, 2010, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-cigarette-packs-unique-size-and-shape/534004 "2010-03-27T06:39:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-cigarette-packs-unique-size-and-shape/534004/21 "2010-03-28T05:54:49Z")
It seems to me now that the reason Canada has packs with the hull and slider is because that’s the way UK smokes were packaged back in the day. What say the unwashed masses (you, that is)? ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-cigarette-packs-unique-size-and-shape/534004/22 "2010-03-28T09:54:50Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The reason that drugstores are no longer selling them (this varies from province to province; not all provinces have that requirement) is the idea that there is absolutely no health benefit to tobacco smoking, and in fact it’s extremely bad for your health. The argument is that it’s not consistent with the professional ethos of pharmacists to sell a product, which if used as intended, has no health benefits and many significant health risks. But, it’s actually _illegal_ for pharmacies to sell cigarettes (at least in Ontario). Not an ethical issue at all, just government edict. A fine example of hypocrisy and selective legislation. Grocery stores and supermarkets sell them. Any argument that businesses selling ‘health’ products shouldn’t be allowed to also sell cigarettes should apply equally to businesses selling food - the most basic health need we have. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-cigarette-packs-unique-size-and-shape/534004/23 "2010-03-28T12:35:34Z")
Yes, it’s the law, but just saying it’s government edict doesn’t mean it’s not an ethics issue. Pharmacists, like other professions, are under government regulations that include an strong component of professional ethics. It varies from province to province how much discretion the government leaves to the self-governing profession to set the ethical standards for its members, and how much of the ethical standards are included directly in the provincial law governing the particular profession. Part of the trade-off of entering a self-governing profession is that in exchange for powers that only members of that profession can perform, they are required to comply with the ethical and professional standards of the particular profession. Grocery stores are not health-care professionals, and they are not a self-regulating professional. They don’t operate under the higher standards which apply to self-regulating professions such as pharmacists. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-cigarette-packs-unique-size-and-shape/534004/24 "2010-03-28T13:23:45Z")
I certainly remember Players cigarettes being like this, you could get them in 10’s too.That would be in the 1970’s and they may have been sold like this later on. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-cigarette-packs-unique-size-and-shape/534004/25 "2010-03-28T14:49:53Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > But, it’s actually _illegal_ for pharmacies to sell cigarettes (at least in Ontario). Not an ethical issue at all, just government edict. A fine example of hypocrisy and selective legislation. The legislation was made at the request of the Ontario College of Pharmacists. Of course the big-tobacco-owned-Shoppers did not want it. [Health News Briefs 1987 - 1991](http://www.connexions.org/CxLibrary/Docs/CX5207-HealthBriefs-1987-1991.htm)[http://www.smoke-free.ca/pdf\_1/pharmacy.PDF](http://www.smoke-free.ca/pdf_1/pharmacy.PDF) > [@KarlGauss](#): > > Grocery stores and supermarkets sell them. Any argument that businesses selling ‘health’ products shouldn’t be allowed to also sell cigarettes should apply equally to businesses selling food - the most basic health need we have. In a perfect world, no one would sell highly addictive carcinogens that provide no benefit. We don’t live in a perfect world. If you can get tobacco out of food stores entirely, you’ll have my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-cigarette-packs-unique-size-and-shape/534004/26 "2010-03-28T14:59:30Z")
I’m not sure if Safeway still sells cigarettes or not; okay, doing a bit of research, [it looks like they do not.](http://www.health.alberta.ca/initiatives/tobacco-reduction-questions.html) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-cigarette-packs-unique-size-and-shape/534004/27 "2010-03-28T15:12:31Z")
Sort of. It’s that if they have a pharmacy in their store, the can not sell cigarettes in that same store, but they can still cell cigarettes from a separate cigarette kiosk adjacent to the store. If they do not have a pharmacy in the store, then they can sell cigarettes in the store. As the boomers get older and fewer people take up smoking, I expect that given the choice of either selling prescription medicines or cigarettes, most large grocery stores will eventually go with prescription medicines. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-cigarette-packs-unique-size-and-shape/534004/28 "2010-03-28T17:30:54Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I’m not sure if Safeway still sells cigarettes or not; okay, doing a bit of research, [it looks like they do not.](http://www.health.alberta.ca/initiatives/tobacco-reduction-questions.html) Well, it depends. Safeways with pharmacies in the store don’t, but I’m sure Safeways without pharmacies still do. I recall my local Safeway in Edmonton had no pharmacy–perhaps because it was in the downtown and like many older stores, never had a pharmacy nor did it have room to put one in. Besides, there was a Shopper’s Drug next door anyway. Not sure if that Edmonton Safeway is still selling smokes, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is. My local Safeway here, with a pharmacy, stopped selling cigarettes in the store, but sells them in its gas station in the parking lot. Safeway still sells tobacco, just not out of stores with pharmacies. ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-cigarette-packs-unique-size-and-shape/534004/29 "2010-03-29T02:47:17Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Grocery stores and supermarkets sell them. No store with a pharmacy section sells cigarettes. I don’t know where you live, but none of the supermarkets in Toronto sell them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-cigarette-packs-unique-size-and-shape/534004.md?page=1)