Illicit tobacco: Governments continue to blow smoke.

No one would dispute that measures to reduce smoking are one of the most effective public health initiatives that any community can deliver. Nor would they dispute that increases in the retail price of tobacco products are one of the most successful means of reducing tobacco consumption. In Canada, successive tax increases in the early 1990s drove down tobacco consumption before a concerted tobacco-industry campaign led to a rollback of taxes in 1994 — and increased rates of smoking. The reason behind that industry-led campaign was that tobacco smuggling was becoming rampant. And so it was. In fact the tobacco industry itself was shown to be a major player. Industry executives were subsequently jailed and tobacco companies themselves paid (astonishingly small) fines for their significant roles in deliberately marketing their products for illicit re-entry into Canada. Smuggling of tobacco products continues in Canada, depriving governments of enormous revenues that could be applied to health services, increasing the likelihood of youth smoking and reducing incentives to quit among smokers of all ages. The problem principally involves the illicit distribution of tobacco products from four aboriginal communities: Kahnawake, Akwsesasne, Tyendinaga and Six Nations. The tobacco products in question come from several sources: many are manufactured on the reserves or in the United States (the RCMP notes that 90% of all smuggled tobacco emanates from the Akwesakne reserve which straddles Ontario, Quebec and the US); some are Canadian commercial brands smuggled from reserves without taxes being collected, and some are counterfeit brands imported into Canada. In each case, the smuggled tobacco contributes, particularly in Eastern Canada, to a flood of cheap cigarettes with obvious health implications. It is no small irony that aboriginal communities, already confronting an array of health issues, are the victims of the widespread availability of the cheap cigarettes produced in their midst. An astonishing 47% of young First Nations males, 61% of young First Nations females and almost 60% of pregnant First Nations women are tobacco addicts. Researchers have suggested that illicitly manufactured cigarettes may contain more heavy metals and, as if it were possible, be potentially more harmful than their more legitimate, but still highly lethal, counterparts. The greatest health risk associated with contraband cigarettes is likely their price and their availability — both contributing to greater rates of youth smoking and reducing incentives to quit.