More new evidence
supporting the opinion that governments are addicted to tobacco revenue but less
than committed to helping people, especially Natives and the poor, escape the
smoking habit.
The American Lung Association is reporting
that U.S. state governments are taking in $25.7 billion in tobacco revenue
annually but spending less than $0.5 billion on smoking prevention and control,
which is a fraction of the $3.7 billion recommended by the Centres for Disease
Control and Prevention. The same situation exists in most governments around
the world.
In Canada, federal spending on tobacco
control has dropped by 40 per cent in the last six years, tobacco info.ca
(www.tobaccoinfo.ca/mag10/federal.htm) reports. Canadian governments take in
$7.5 billion a year from tobacco revenue and tobacco taxation continues to
increase and help fuel the contraband market.
A cynic would say governments really can’t
be dedicated to reducing tobacco use when they are so dependent on it.
They certainly are not showing much
commitment to reducing smoking among Natives. In Canada, roughly 50 percent of
natives living on reserves still smoke compared to 19 percent of other Canadians.
Thirty-two percent of American Indians smoke compared to 19 per cent of
non-Indians.
Smoking is most prevalent among the poor and
those with poor access to good education. No wonder there is an Idle No More
Movement.
More on this in Smoke
Signals: The Native Takeback of North America’s Tobacco Industry (Dundurn
Press).
