Illegal Cigarettes Research Articles

Understanding the relationship between sales of legal cigarettes and deaths: A case-study in Brazil

Brazil has experienced a large decline in cigarette consumption in the last 25years. However, the most recent annual reports from the tobacco industry market leader in Brazil did not show a decrease in its gross profits. This is particularly important because tobacco industry donations/sponsorships come directly from the industry's reported gross-profits and are used to subvert health policies. The aim of the present study was to estimate (i) tobacco industry's gross-profit from legal cigarettes sales, and (ii) all-cause smoking-attributable deaths (SADs) among current Brazilian smokers who consumed legal cigarettes in 2013. We collected information on prevalence of legal cigarette use, cigarette consumption, price per cigarette pack among individuals aged ≥35years from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey, legal cigarettes sales (e.g., average costs and total volume of sales) provided by the Federal Secretariat of Revenues, and population mortality from the available vital statistics. With a gross-profit of US$1.378 billion (1.307–1.434) from sales of 54.6 billion sticks of cigarettes (53.4–55.5) to 8,424,510 smokers aged 35years and older in Brazil in 2013, cumulative SADs were estimated at 96,012 (85,647–107,654) (around 34% of cumulative SADs also including current smoking of illegal cigarettes and past smoking), i.e., one SAD was equivalent to a gross-profit of US$14,352 (12,140–16,743). Our results revealed the association between sales of cigarettes, gross-profits, and deaths in Brazil. As tobacco industry donations/sponsorships originate from industry's gross profits, which, in turn, depend on cigarette sales, our findings may be useful for increasing “moral pressure” on individuals and institutions and help countries in stopping tobacco industry interference in health policies.

A Grim Reality: The Practice of CSR by Tobacco Company

Scientific evidences show that tobacco product is harmful to smokers and those who are exposed to second-hand and third-hand smoke. Although tobacco products are legal, they are lethal and killing millions of people worldwide. Every year, second-hand smoke kills more than 600,000 people globally, including 165 thousand children. Nevertheless, tobacco industry continues their operation without significant threat to their legitimacy for over the years. The emergence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as industry on its own right provides mechanisms for corporations that faced legitimacy crisis to publicly espouse their CSR commitment. The industry voluntarily produces codes of conduct and increasingly reports their engagement in CSR-related initiatives. This study examines CSR-related initiatives and activities of British American Tobacco Malaysia (BAT) through qualitative analysis of corporate reports, documents and webpage. The aim is to understand the BAT’s CSR efforts with regards to the issue of health, socio-economic and environmental costs due to tobacco consumption and tobacco farming. The ‘legitimacy crisis’ faced by BAT might explain the concerted efforts undertaken in social reporting which centred on three main issues; philanthropic giving, youth smoking prevention and combating illegal cigarettes. The analysis also showed contentious issue with regards to health, socio-economic and environmental costs as a result of tobacco consumption and tobacco farming.

The illegal cigarette trade in New York City

This essay and review examines the historical development and the status quo of the cigarette black market in New York City as of 2015. Special emphasis is given to the situation in the South Bronx. Data are drawn from published research, official sources and open sources. Similar to other parts of the United States, the illegal cigarettes that are being sold in New York City are bootlegged from low-tax jurisdictions within the U.S. Large-scale smuggled cigarettes, counterfeit cigarettes and so-called cheap whites do not hold significant shares of the illegal market. Illegal cigarettes are most prevalent in economically deprived areas such as the South Bronx, where they are readily available to local residents through street vendors and through legitimate retail stores. Consumer preferences appear to be an important factor in shaping the illegal cigarette trade, namely with respect to the persistent dominance of genuine brand cigarettes on the black market.

“I Wouldn’t Take My Chances on the Street”

Objectives: This article examines the decision-making of consumers of illegal goods and services, using the illegal cigarette market in the South Bronx as a case study. Methods: Sixty-seven adult smokers residing in the South Bronx (New York City) were purposively recruited and placed into 13 focus groups stratified by gender and age to discuss their purchasing patterns of cigarettes. Results: Our participants routinely buy and consume illicit cigarettes. They prefer to purchase these illicit cigarettes in legitimate stores rather than from street vendors. In their decision-making, our participants are guided by various concerns, including reliable access to illicit cigarettes, minimal exposure to the police, the ability to purchase cigarettes on credit, reduced risk of being sold low-quality cigarettes (i.e., stale, counterfeit), and the chance to successfully complain in case of poor product quality. Conclusions: Consumers make rational decisions to purchase illicit cigarettes within the constraints they face as a result of their socioeconomic position. They base their decisions on a set of factors of which the lowest retail price is not a primary concern.

Zapobieganie przestępczości cudzoziemców w Polsce

Zapobieganie przestępczości cudzoziemców w Polsce

Big business: scale of operation, organizational size, and the level of integration into the legal economy as key parameters for understanding the development of illegal enterprises

This study examines variations in the scale of operation, size of organization and the degree to which illegal enterprises are integrated into the legal economy. Data were obtained from two sources, pertaining to the illegal cigarette trade in the area of Berlin, Germany, during the 1990s: case statistics of the German Customs Service on cigarette related investigations (n=47,632), and criminal files (n=69) on illegal enterprises involved in the smuggling and wholesale distribution of cigarettes.

The use of legal, illegal and roll-your-own cigarettes to increasing tobacco excise taxes and comprehensive tobacco control policies: findings from the ITC Uruguay Survey

BackgroundLittle research has been done to examine whether smokers switch to illegal or roll-your-own (RYO) cigarettes in response to a change in their relative price.ObjectiveThis paper explores how relative prices...

The Intended and Unintended Consequences of a Legal Measure to Cut the Flow of Illegal Cigarettes Into New York City: The Case of the South Bronx

We examined the impact of a change in New York tax law on the numbers of untaxed cigarettes bootlegged from Native American reservations and resold in the South Bronx. Discarded cigarette packs were systematically collected in 30 randomized South Bronx census tracks before and after the amended tax law went into effect in 2011. Also, administrative data were gathered on the number of taxed cigarettes sold in New York State, including sales to Native American reservations. Before the tax amendment, 42% of discarded cigarette packs collected in the South Bronx had no tax stamp. After the tax law went into effect, the percentage of cigarette packs without tax stamps declined to 6.2%. Simultaneously, the percentage of packs with out-of-state tax stamps rose from 18.3% to 66.3%. The percentage of packs with a combined New York State and New York City tax stamp did not change after the tax amendment. After the tax amendment, the supply of contraband cigarettes appears to have quickly shifted from one lower-priced jurisdiction to another without a change in the overall prevalence of contraband cigarettes.

Investigating the association between strategic and pathological gambling behaviors and substance use in youth: could religious faith play a differential role?

This study investigated the link between gambling behaviors and the use of alcohol, drugs, and nonprescribed prescription medications, while exploring the moderating role of distinct religious faiths. In 2010, 570 students from the American University of Beirut completed a self-reported, anonymous English questionnaire, which included lifetime gambling and past-year substance use measures. Half (55%) were lifetime gamblers, of whom, 12% were probable pathological gamblers. About 60% were strategic gamblers. Lifetime gamblers were more than twice as likely as nongamblers to report past-year illegal drug use and alcohol abuse. Probable pathological gamblers were also more than four times as likely as nongamblers to report nonmedical prescription drug use, illegal drug use, and alcohol abuse. Compared to nonstrategic gamblers, strategic gamblers had more than three times the odds of illegal drug and cigarette use. The link between alcohol abuse and gambling was stronger among Christians than Muslims. Conversely, Muslims were more likely to report the co-occurrence of various gambling behaviors (lifetime, probable pathological, and strategic gambling) with both illegal drug use and cigarette use. Gambling and substance use behaviors were strongly linked in this sample of youth from Lebanon, corroborating the evidence from North America. Particularly novel are the co-occurrence of pathological gambling and nonmedical prescription drug use and the potential differential role of religion. (Am J Addict 2014;23:280-287).

Minority ethnic adolescents’ wellbeing: Child rearing practices and positive family influences

Objective: This paper examines Black adolescents’ experiences and views on the interrelationships between their families’ parenting practices and their wellbeing. Method: The material is drawn from a community-based qualitative study on the health and wellbeing experiences of Black African families and adolescents. A total of 53 adolescents of Black African origin residing in a county in the north of England participated in the study. Data were collected by means of semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted in participants’ homes and youth clubs. Data were subjected to thematic analysis with the aid of a qualitative data analysis software package. Results: While the adolescents acknowledged receiving health-promotion messages from sources such as their peers and the media, they also identified the continued significance of their parents and family network in shaping their behaviours and facilitating their wellbeing. These included specific health-promotion messages such as not to use illegal drugs and cigarettes, and on the dangers and effects of excessive alcohol. In addition, the adolescents believed that their parents’ values, beliefs and child-rearing practices had helped them to cope with social discrimination. Conclusion: Knowledge and understanding of Black families’ child-rearing practices, socio-economic circumstances and life experiences can provide health-promotion practitioners with sound background information for the design and implementation of specific effective health-promotion strategies directed at adolescents.

Risk of Incarceration and Other Characteristics of Iraq and Afghanistan Era Veterans in State and Federal Prisons

The Health Care for Reentry Veterans (HCRV) program provides Veterans Health Administration outreach services to veterans incarcerated in state and federal prisons. This study used HCRV data to compare risk of incarceration of veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom (OEF), Iraqi Freedom (OIF), and New Dawn (OND) and other veterans and to identify sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of incarcerated veterans of OEF/OIF/OND. Administrative national data were analyzed for 30,968 incarcerated veterans, including 1,201 OEF/OIF/OND veterans, contacted from October 2007 to April 2011. Odds ratios were calculated comparing the risk of incarceration among OEF/OIF/OND and other veterans in the HCRV sample and in a weighted sample of nonincarcerated veterans from the 2010 National Survey of Veterans. Stepwise logistic regressions of HCRV data examined characteristics of incarcerated veterans independently associated with OEF/OIF/OND service. Regardless of ethnicity or age, OEF/OIF/OND veterans were less than half as likely as other veterans to be incarcerated and constituted only 3.9% of the incarcerated veterans. Compared with other incarcerated veterans, OEF/OIF/OND veterans were younger, were more likely to be married, were more likely to report combat exposure, expected a shorter incarceration, were 26% less likely to have a diagnosis of drug abuse or dependence, and were three times more likely to have combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). OEF/OIF/OND veterans appeared to be at lower risk of incarceration than veterans of other service eras, but those who were incarcerated had higher rates of PTSD. Efforts to link these veterans to mental health services upon their release are warranted.

The Changing Role of China in the Global Illegal Cigarette Trade

This study explores the history of the illegal production, distribution, and smuggling of cigarettes in mainland China. Data were obtained from a content analysis of 931 media reports retrieved from LexisNexis for the time period 1975 until 2010, and from other open sources. The illegal cigarette trade first emerged in the form of violations of state tobacco monopoly regulations. In the course of the restructuring of the legal tobacco sector, which occurred under external political pressure to open the Chinese market to foreign competition, an illegal cigarette industry emerged which at first primarily produced fake Chinese brand cigarettes for the domestic black market. At the same time, China became a destination country for smuggled genuine Western brand cigarettes. It was only after effective crackdowns against cigarette smuggling and domestic distribution channels in the late 1990s that the Chinese illegal cigarette industry shifted to exporting large numbers of counterfeit Western brand cigarettes to black markets abroad. China’s current role as a leading supplier of counterfeit cigarettes is a result of the contradictions of the economic reform process and of external licit and illicit forces that worked toward opening up the Chinese tobacco sector to the outside world.

Prevalence of smuggled and foreign cigarette use in Tehran, 2009

BackgroundIran is one of two main target markets for tobacco smuggling in the WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Region. The Iranian government has a local tobacco monopoly but there is high demand...

Exports to Smuggle and Smuggling Technologies*

AbstractOur analysis is motivated by cases of cigarette smuggling in Canada and in the UK. In the 1990s, domestic cigarettes were legally exported to be subsequently illegally imported. At first, smuggling was done by individual consumers who bought cigarettes abroad and brought them back through policed points of entry. This Mom and Pop smuggling was a mechanism to implement a second‐degree price discrimination scheme by cigarette manufacturers. Regrets from committing tax evasion and labels on exported cigarettes packs permit vertical differentiation of illegal and legal cigarettes. Paradoxically, labeling measures can make illegal sales more resilient to tax reductions, and stricter border enforcement encourages a switch to a less benign smuggling technology exclusive to criminal organizations. High export taxes terminated export‐to‐smuggle schemes, but brought about a surge of counterfeit cigarettes. Because of a second‐degree price discrimination scheme, the elimination of taxes need not suffice to eradicate smuggling.

The $5 man: the underground economic response to a large cigarette tax increase in New York City.

We examined the mechanisms by which living in a disadvantaged minority community influences smoking and illegal cigarette sale and purchasing behaviors after a large cigarette tax increase. Data were collected from 14 focus groups (n=104) that were conducted during the spring of 2003 among Blacks aged 18 years and older living in New York City. A large tax increase led to what focus group participants described as a pervasive illegal cigarette market in a low-income minority community. Perceived pro-smoking community norms, a stressful social and economic environment, and the availability of illegal cigarettes worked together to reinforce smoking and undermine cessation. Although interest in quitting was high, bootleggers created an environment in which reduced-price cigarettes were easier to access than cessation services. This activity continues to undermine the public health goals of the tax increase.

International Observer

Editor's Note: Drs. Lee and Chen provide data on the effects of price and smoking characteristics and their relationship to smuggled cigarettes in Taiwan. Smuggled cigarette smoking increased for each NT$1 increase in the price of legal cigarettes. Globally, cigarette smuggling as a percent of consumption varies widely. In Israel, it is estimated that 44% of the cigarettes are smuggled (1999 WHO). In Hungary, the rate is 9% and in Egypt it is slightly above 1%. Researchers estimate that 30% of the internationally exported cigarettes (about 355 billion cigarettes) are lost to smuggling. This trend is seen globally, both in the developed and developing world. Cigarette taxes are often used to plug holes in budgets at all levels of government. Here in my home state of New Jersey, for instance, the newly proposed tax for July 2006 on a pack of cigarettes is $2.75, up from the current $2.40 USD per pack. Initially, state and federal governments benefited from the increased revenue, and we saw the desired decrease in cigarette consumption. But over time, sales of legal cigarettes decreased and illegal cigarettes were smuggled into the higher tax states for resale. A report from Tobacco Free Kids estimates that approximately one-quarter of all legally exported cigarettes end up smuggled across international borders. The World Bank ( Joossens, 1999; De Beyer, 2002) has identified countries with high and low smuggling rates. Sweden, Denmark, Norway, France, Finland, and Ireland?all with high cigarette prices and taxes?are reported to have low smuggling rates ( 10%): Spain, Italy, Pakistan, Nigeria, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Moldova, Columbia, Iran, Austria, and Cambodia.

Agriculture: Illegal cigarettes pack toxic punch

Science NewsVolume 167, Issue 7 p. 109-109 Of Note Agriculture: Illegal cigarettes pack toxic punch First published: 25 September 2009 https://doi.org/10.1002/scin.5591670714AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume167, Issue712 February 2005Pages 109-109 RelatedInformation

Moving East: how the transnational tobacco industry gained entry to the emerging markets of the former Soviet Union—part I: establishing cigarette imports

Objectives: To identify British American Tobacco’s (BAT) reasons for targeting the former Soviet Union following its collapse in 1991 and the initial strategies BAT used to enter the region. Design:...

Application of ANN with extracted parameters from an electronic nose in cigarette brand identification

The Chinese cigarette industry is losing millions of dollars per year due to counterfeit cigarettes. Detecting illegal cigarettes in the field is difficult, but may be possible using portable electronic noses (E-noses). However, the differences between odours from counterfeit and genuine cigarettes are small and detection may prove difficult. In this study we propose a practical approach to increase the performance of E-noses in cigarette brand identification. A portable E-nose was employed to collect and classify aroma signals from different brands of cigarettes. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) were employed and trained with raw data and extracted features from the data collected by the E-nose to identify the cigarettes. This preliminary investigation succeeded in identifying four different types of cigarettes in the laboratory. The identification results obtained from the neural network trained with extracted parameters were better than the ones obtained directly from the E-nose.

Qualitative Differences Among Rural and Urban Intimate Violence Victimization Experiences and Consequences: A Pilot Study

Relatively little is known about rural women's intimate violence experiences in comparison to urban women's experiences, partly because of the difficulty in accessing rural women. This pilot study used a protective order sample of 23 women (15 urban and 8 rural), which provides an access point that is relatively similar for comparisons across rural and urban areas. The number of participants is low and, therefore, results are preliminary. However, several significant findings emerged. Rural women reported significantly less social support, less education, less income, more physical abuse in the preceding year, more childhood physical and sexual abuse, and worse overall health and mental health, as well as encountering abuse earlier in the relationship. Both groups reported higher rates of illegal drug and cigarette use than those among the general population. The findings highlight some overall important themes in examining rural and urban intimate violence victims by suggesting that rural and urban intimate violence victims have different victimization experiences and service needs. Implications for further research and intervention are discussed.