This headline passed by my radar: Japan Tobacco Wins Court Protection in Canada Over Smoking.
In both US and Canadian jurisdictions, governments have been engaging tobacco companies in civil litigation over the undisclosed risks of smoking. The majority of drama settled in the late 90’s in the USA, but things in Canada have taken longer.
According to the article:
The lawsuits were in favor of smokers seeking damages for addiction and smoking-related diseases, who argued they were never warned of the risks.
There are no longer any Canadian publicly traded companies that deal with the tobacco industry, although you can invest in Philip Morris (most associated with the Marlborough brand) in the USA.
However, this gets me thinking – 20 years down the line, when rampant consumption of marijuana is determined to be a cause of the breakdown of the brain’s normal functioning in older age, will governments decide to go after marijuana companies for not disclosing this hitherto undisclosed risk of consuming too much THC? What about second-hand smoke, which is more abundant than ever on the streets now that marijuana is legalized?
I try not to allow politics or morals interfere with objective investment analysis, but the double standard that is applied between tobacco and marijuana is amusing, to say the least. When marijuana is no longer in favour, watch out!
Hi — sorry to go off topic but it looks like pfin.ca changed their website to only show live Canadian yields and not the yields from end of the day prior. Do you still refer to this website or look elsewhere? Thanks!