St. John's resident Shawn Lewis has been trying to quit smoking for more than 25 years. - Photo by Barb Sweet/The Telegram

As a teenager disgusted by his parents' smoking, Shawn Lewis swore he'd never take it up himself.

That's until he developed a crush on a girl while taking a cadet lifeguard course at CFB Greenwood in Nova Scotia.

"I sat down and she asked me if I wanted a cigarette, and I never put a cigarette to my lips before," Lewis said.

"It was disgusting and gross. I excused myself. I went back to the trailer and continued to empty the contents of my stomach. That didn't deter me. The next day I went back, sat down there again and had another cigarette with her, as hard as my body tried to tell me this was wrong."

Became addicted

That was in 1982, and Lewis was hooked on cigarettes by the end of the summer. People he respected smoked - besides his parents, doctors and military officers.

"I told my father that I was smoking over the summer. The only thing he told me is, 'If you want to smoke, you'll have to go to work and buy your own cigarettes.' He didn't really know the health hazards associated with smoking."

In the early 1990s, married to a girl in St. John's he met at a high school dance, and a new father, Lewis decided that based on marketing, light cigarettes would be a healthier choice and took up Player's Light.

A former member of the military, he's quit on and off since, and this week hopes the court will side with struggling smokers like himself in an appeal of a decision on light cigarettes.

The application for certification was filed by Ches Crosbie on behalf of Victor Todd Sparkes - the class action's representative plaintiff - against Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., Imperial Tobacco Company Ltd. and the Attorney General of Canada.

Sparkes' lawyers claimed the tobacco companies descriptions of "light" and "mild" as well as other descriptive terms were part of a deliberate misinformation campaign by the tobacco manufacturer to mislead and deceive the public into thinking the use of such products would have less harmful effects than smoking "regular" cigarettes.

But Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador Justice James Adams said in 2008 the plaintiff failed to establish a cause of action under the federal Trade Practices Act. Adams denied the certification on the basis consumer Victor Sparkes did not buy the cigarettes directly from Imperial Tobacco. But the matter is being heard again by the Court of Appeal Wednesday and Thursday.

Crosbie argues people can't buy cigarettes directly from the supplier.

Lewis originally joined the class action because it sounded like his life story.

"We were blindsided. We were misled and taken advantage of. ... At the end of the day, I wanted to quit. I thought the switch to light cigarettes was going to help me take that edge off from smoking regular cigarettes," Lewis said.

"So they had me. I couldn't win."

Lewis has tried everything to quit, from laser therapy to special chewing gum, and has quit for long stretches. He took it up again four months ago after having quit for seven months.

"It seems like this law that was created to protect us is actually providing protection to the wrong people," he said of Adams' decision.

Lewis said cigarette manufacturers are now marketing cigarettes under names like "silver," "smooth," and "white" and those are just as enticing as "light or "ultra-light."

"Whatever colour they want to put to the packaging or however they want to prepare it, none of it's good for you," he said.

"My main goal of this is to just get it out there and to let people know that there is no healthy cigarette."

Lewis is also looking forward to stores being rid of powerwalls - prominent advertising displays used to market cigarettes.

"Just going in those stores is like cutting chocolate off for the rest of your life and ending up at Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory," he said.

"How can you not be tempted - that's the powerful grip it has on you. It's something I fear and I know I am going to battle for the rest of my life. And hopefully, God willing, I will finally have the strength to lay the cigarettes down for good."

A provincial law to ban powerwalls takes effect Jan. 1. Meanwhile, a lawsuit against tobacco companies announced by this province a decade ago is still active for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, but there has been little progress. No statement of claim has been filed nor has the province proclaimed the necessary legislation to join the lawsuit, although it has been passed.

In October, the province of Ontario joined British Columbia and New Brunswick in a lawsuit against a group of tobacco companies.

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