As the state cracks down on the cigarette trade on Indian native smokes near me, tribes are pushing native brands into the market. Marlboros, Camels and Newports are disappearing from the shelves at Indian-owned smoke shops on New York’s sparsely populated reservations. Instead, customers at the Oneida, Cayuga and Onondaga nations can buy Seneca, Niagara’s, Bishop or Salem cigarettes. The tobacco giants have not responded directly to the smuggling, although Philip Morris has distanced itself from its longtime reservation distributor, Milhelm Attea, and the tribes are buying less national brands.

The state won the right in 1994 to collect taxes from wholesalers that sell name-brand cigarettes for resale, but the issue has been bogged down by lawsuits and delay. Last month the state won a court decision that allows it to demand the tax payments from the non-Indian wholesalers, and since June 21 cigarette orders at reservations have dropped.

Navigating Legalities: Understanding the Sale of Native Cigarettes

Officials believe that the change in supply hasn’t yet shifted consumer habits, but they hope it will. Besides the revenue loss, the state is concerned about the health effects of secondhand smoke, especially on children and elderly people, who don’t have the body’s natural defenses that adults have. The state is working to find the balance between law enforcement and protecting Native sovereignty.


Native Cigarettes Canada
Phone: +15198579349

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *