Fita: Tobacco is a stimulant, much like coffee
In what might be the biggest court battle between the government and corporate South Africa amid the pandemic, the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita) argued before three judges in the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday that the ban on tobacco sales is unjustified and without reasonable evidence stopped people from smoking.
Fita represents the entire value chain for tobacco and vaping products including the agricultural, manufacturing, retail and consumer sectors.
Fita’s legal representative, Advocate Arnold Subel, put it to the court that tobacco products provide relevant consumers with the same effect and pleasure as coffee, as consumed by people daily, which is why it should have been included under essential products.
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“Many users develop routines and rituals associated with the use of these goods that are highly significant to the users and provide comfort and enjoyment; people make use of these goods because they find them pleasurable and useful,” he said.
“Nicotine is one of the major chemical components in tobacco and vaping products, while caffeine is one of the major chemical components in coffee,” said Subel, adding that nicotine and caffeine are both plant alkaloids that act on the central nervous system.
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