OTTAWA, ON. (NEWS 1130) – Today marks World No Tobacco Day and the industry that makes cigarettes says pot isn’t getting picked on by the federal government.

Eric Gagnon is the head of Corporate and External Affairs for Imperial Tobacco Canada and he thinks marijuana needs to face similar regulations that smoking does. “You have very similar products and what we would expect is for the government to approach regulation the same way they do for cannabis then they would for tobacco.”

Gagnon takes issue with federal Health Minister Jane Philpott’s plan to have plain and standardized packaging for tobacco products — despite cigarette packages already having a 75 per cent health warning and being hidden from public view at most points of sale. He contests that at this point, all that is required for marijuana is a restriction on packaging or labelling to ensure product packaging is not appealing to young people. “If the approach for cannabis is really going to protect youth, we believe that the same approach should be used for tobacco.”

Gagnon thinks that based on current statistics, the government should be cracking down in other areas. “Three per cent of Canadian youth are smoking tobacco in this country [according to the latest government data, while 17 per cent of the kids are smoking marijuana, and 45 per cent of Canadian youth are drinking alcohol, yet the number one priority for the Canadian government right now is to introduce plain packaging on tobacco products.”

He thinks anti-tobacco lobbyists are the problem. “These groups are pushing their agenda. They want plain packaging on a product that already has a 75 per cent health warning. On the other hand they don’t have a position on marijuana legalization. It begs the question, ‘Who’s really driving the agenda on tobacco regulation?” Gagnon adds, “This has nothing to do with public health, this is over excessive regulation.”

Gagnon also insists his industry isn’t against the legalization of pot, but he wants to see a level playing field. “When you look at what’s happening with alcohol, with tobacco, with marijuana, there’s a lot of hypocrisy. This has nothing to do with public health, this is over excessive regulation.”

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, smoking is the leading cause of preventable death. Tobacco use causes nearly 6 million deaths per year around the world, and it’s expected kill 8 million people annually by 2030.