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Smoke Signals
Spotlight
Book Smoke Signals From peace pipes to bags of roll-ups, in Smoke Signals journalist Jim Poling Sr. charts the role that tobacco has had in shaping Native American history, and how Native people have found themselves at the centre of contraband tobacco distribution in the USA and Canada. The tobacco plant is native to the Americas, and was widely used by Amerindian tribes in the pre-Columbian era as a medicine, and in religious practice to commune with the spirit world. When Christopher Columbus met ‘Indians’ in the New World in 1492, they offered him and his crew sacred tobacco leaves as a gift. Finding the dried leaves unpalatable, the crew threw them overboard, perhaps setting the tone of relations between the groups for centuries to come. Poling describes the spread of tobacco use across the globe (chewed, smoked, and inhaled both medicinally and recreationally) and how various governments came to see tobacco as a lucrative source of income. If the prices of goods are high in one region and low in an adjoining one, contraband will flow between them, and cigarettes are no exception. In the USA and Canada, tobacco taxes are set both nationally and regionally, resulting in wild differentials in price across short geographical distances—in New York State, for example, the tax on a pack of cigarettes at US$4·35 is nearly three times the national average. Native American involvement in tobacco contraband arose with laws and legal precedents that meant government taxes were not collected on Indian reservations. This situation led to an explosion of so-called smoke shacks—ie, shops on reservations that in theory only sold tobacco to Natives, but in practice supplied large numbers of tax-free cigarettes to non-Native customers. The large profits to be made by transporting cigarettes across North American borders fuelled smuggling, often by disenfranchised and underemployed Native American men and women. Smuggled cigarettes could be sourced from illegal factories on reservations, redirected export shipments, or outright theft from stores and factories. Revenues from contraband tobacco and gambling on reserves partly helped to fund the burgeoning Red Nation movement in the 1960s and 1970s, which saw angry Native Americans reclaim the identity of tribal warriors and resulted in confrontations with law enforcement agencies—eg, the occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969 and the Oka armed conflict in 1990. Heavy-handed attempts to address the problem led to alienation of Native populations for whom both legal and illegal tobacco was, and remains, an important economic resource. As a case study Poling uses the Mohawk territory of Akwesasne, at the borders of New York State and the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario. In the 1950s, flooding and environmental damage caused by the www.thelancet.com/respiratory Vol 1 May 2013
St Lawrence Seaway project destroyed the fishing and agricultural economy of the Mohawks living downstream from the major project to improve shipping access. Economic devastation and breakdown in traditional Mohawk society led to an explosion in gambling and contraband tobacco, and the rise in organised crime descended into armed insurrection. The problem was compounded by fractious governance and the failure of authorities to adequately address either the security situation or the grievances of the Mohawk population. Poling’s book provides a compelling account of the harms of contraband tobacco on Native communities through gang violence and disengagement from official governments. He also mentions the harms that befall wider society, such as lost income tax and the criminalisation of poor smokers, who are more likely to buy contraband cigarettes. He rightfully points out that the problem of contraband tobacco can only be tackled through working with Native communities to improve their economic outlook. However, although meticulously researched, the book has a poor structure, and the author’s case is weakly argued. Poling at many points describes governments as “addicted to tobacco”—their revenue from taxes far exceeds spending on control and prevention, and makes an irreplaceable contribution to local and national government coffers. But he doesn’t follow through with an analysis: what, precisely, is the outcome of this so-called addiction? Are governments’ actions towards Native contraband tobacco issues driven by real politik, not concern? Does that greed play into the portrayal of Natives as feckless savages; incompetent, militant, and incapable of ruling themselves? Poling’s frustrations with the anti-smoking lobby and “government bureaucrats” are evident. He suggests that often they pursue ever-higher increases in cigarette taxes with little regard for the harms that the resultant smuggling causes. This is a wellmade point and certainly contraband tobacco should be an important consideration for policy makers seeking to reduce tobacco consumption. But although he accepts that tobacco has negative health effects, Poling never explores this central tension–should the health of the many be protected, at the cost of social devastation for a few? Further, the impact of tobacco on the health of Natives themselves is hardly touched on, even though 59% of those living on reserves in Canada smoke. Fascinating and frustrating in equal measures, Poling’s book is both a moving history of Native American tobacco contraband, and a call to action. If only the author had made it so without blowing so much smoke.
Jim Poling Sr. Dundurn, 2012. Pp 223. £16·99. ISBN 978-14599706408 See Comment page 182 See Review page 241 For more on tobacco-related illnesses in First Nations and Inuit communities see http:// www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fniah-spnia/sub stan/tobac-tabac/index-eng.php
Hannah Cagney 197
Book Smoke Signals From peace pipes to bags of roll-ups, in Smoke Signals journalist Jim Poling Sr. charts the role that tobacco has had in shaping Native American history, and how Native people have found themselves at the centre of contraband tobacco distribution in the USA and Canada. The tobacco plant is native to the Americas, and was widely used by Amerindian tribes in the pre-Columbian era as a medicine, and in religious practice to commune with the spirit world. When Christopher Columbus met ‘Indians’ in the New World in 1492, they offered him and his crew sacred tobacco leaves as a gift. Finding the dried leaves unpalatable, the crew threw them overboard, perhaps setting the tone of relations between the groups for centuries to come. Poling describes the spread of tobacco use across the globe (chewed, smoked, and inhaled both medicinally and recreationally) and how various governments came to see tobacco as a lucrative source of income. If the prices of goods are high in one region and low in an adjoining one, contraband will flow between them, and cigarettes are no exception. In the USA and Canada, tobacco taxes are set both nationally and regionally, resulting in wild differentials in price across short geographical distances—in New York State, for example, the tax on a pack of cigarettes at US$4·35 is nearly three times the national average. Native American involvement in tobacco contraband arose with laws and legal precedents that meant government taxes were not collected on Indian reservations. This situation led to an explosion of so-called smoke shacks—ie, shops on reservations that in theory only sold tobacco to Natives, but in practice supplied large numbers of tax-free cigarettes to non-Native customers. The large profits to be made by transporting cigarettes across North American borders fuelled smuggling, often by disenfranchised and underemployed Native American men and women. Smuggled cigarettes could be sourced from illegal factories on reservations, redirected export shipments, or outright theft from stores and factories. Revenues from contraband tobacco and gambling on reserves partly helped to fund the burgeoning Red Nation movement in the 1960s and 1970s, which saw angry Native Americans reclaim the identity of tribal warriors and resulted in confrontations with law enforcement agencies—eg, the occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969 and the Oka armed conflict in 1990. Heavy-handed attempts to address the problem led to alienation of Native populations for whom both legal and illegal tobacco was, and remains, an important economic resource. As a case study Poling uses the Mohawk territory of Akwesasne, at the borders of New York State and the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario. In the 1950s, flooding and environmental damage caused by the www.thelancet.com/respiratory Vol 1 May 2013
St Lawrence Seaway project destroyed the fishing and agricultural economy of the Mohawks living downstream from the major project to improve shipping access. Economic devastation and breakdown in traditional Mohawk society led to an explosion in gambling and contraband tobacco, and the rise in organised crime descended into armed insurrection. The problem was compounded by fractious governance and the failure of authorities to adequately address either the security situation or the grievances of the Mohawk population. Poling’s book provides a compelling account of the harms of contraband tobacco on Native communities through gang violence and disengagement from official governments. He also mentions the harms that befall wider society, such as lost income tax and the criminalisation of poor smokers, who are more likely to buy contraband cigarettes. He rightfully points out that the problem of contraband tobacco can only be tackled through working with Native communities to improve their economic outlook. However, although meticulously researched, the book has a poor structure, and the author’s case is weakly argued. Poling at many points describes governments as “addicted to tobacco”—their revenue from taxes far exceeds spending on control and prevention, and makes an irreplaceable contribution to local and national government coffers. But he doesn’t follow through with an analysis: what, precisely, is the outcome of this so-called addiction? Are governments’ actions towards Native contraband tobacco issues driven by real politik, not concern? Does that greed play into the portrayal of Natives as feckless savages; incompetent, militant, and incapable of ruling themselves? Poling’s frustrations with the anti-smoking lobby and “government bureaucrats” are evident. He suggests that often they pursue ever-higher increases in cigarette taxes with little regard for the harms that the resultant smuggling causes. This is a wellmade point and certainly contraband tobacco should be an important consideration for policy makers seeking to reduce tobacco consumption. But although he accepts that tobacco has negative health effects, Poling never explores this central tension–should the health of the many be protected, at the cost of social devastation for a few? Further, the impact of tobacco on the health of Natives themselves is hardly touched on, even though 59% of those living on reserves in Canada smoke. Fascinating and frustrating in equal measures, Poling’s book is both a moving history of Native American tobacco contraband, and a call to action. If only the author had made it so without blowing so much smoke.
Jim Poling Sr. Dundurn, 2012. Pp 223. £16·99. ISBN 978-14599706408 See Comment page 182 See Review page 241 For more on tobacco-related illnesses in First Nations and Inuit communities see http:// www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fniah-spnia/sub stan/tobac-tabac/index-eng.php
Hannah Cagney 197