State Confiscated a Truck with Seneca Cigarettes

The state has seized a tobacco retailer’s truck from Seneca which contained thousands of cartons of cigarettes, this move many see as a test conducted by the government as Albany seems to begin collecting taxes on Indian cigarette sales in the months ahead.

This truck was confiscated on Monday by at least one state tax and finance agent as it went between the tribe’s Cattaraugus and Allegany reservations.

“The state seized thousands of cartons of cigarettes that didn’t have a New York State tax stamp as requested by the law,” Brad Maione, a tax department spokesman, stated.

He also added that all tobacco products were illegally held by an individual situated outside the reservation property. He refused to answer any questions about the given case.

The truck belonged to Aaron J. Pierce, a Seneca businessman who was among those demanding in court the lawfulness of a new federal law that is related to mail-order tobacco product trade.

Pierce refused to comment the situation and referred calls to his lawyer Lisa Coppola. Recently she released a statement from Pierce’s company, AJ’s Wholesale, naming the confiscation without any warrant “illegal.”
The confiscation was made just one day before Seneca Nation business entities asked a federal judge in Buffalo to postpone the federal government’s ban on mailing tobacco products until their request will be heard by a higher court.

The dueling demands are part of the negative consequences from Arcara’s order last month supporting the main problem of a new federal law as Seneca business owners state will worsen their mail-order cigarette operations.

“At the given moment they are shutting down,” William Parry, the owner of Wolf’s Run in Irving stated after the two-hour hearing. “There are many people who remain without work”.

Outside the hearing room, Seneca business entities are facing with state government that is keen to undertake severe measures on untaxed cigarettes.

AJ’s Wholesale cited a bid in Central New York by local government officials to confiscate Indian cigarettes, later on this move was turned down by the courts.

According to AJ’s the agents of state tax “abandoned” the truck driver “and boxes of melting candy” on the Route 353A outside the Town of Dayton. It declared that the confiscation was unconstitutional.

“This shocking confiscation is an evident retribution for my company’s litigation in federal court,” Pierce stated.

Seneca Nation President Barry E. Snyder Sr. stated that stopping and confiscating of the truck was something “unparalleled” for goods traveling between the Seneca reservations. He also added that tobacco products were legally moving between Seneca-licensed business entities.

This confiscation raised concern among many officials from Seneca, who are worried that tobacco products with a tribal tax stamp will be seized by state officials.

“Stopping vehicles that go from one territory to another is something unprecedented. We are all a unique entity: the Seneca Nation,” declared Richard Nephew, chairman of the Seneca Tribal Council.

E-cigarettes are anything but not safe

Supporters and activists of electronic cigarettes do their best to attract public to these devices. However, their comments and reviews sound rather strange to scientists.

One company claims that e-cigs are like conventional cigarettes but without hazardous chemicals, another producer even states that these devices are “healthy way to keep smoking”.

Exactly these marketing concepts of safe and healthy smoking puzzle and make scientists laugh, since nicotine contained in the electronic cigarettes as well as in conventional ones is addictive. It leads to changes in the brain chemicals, mainly on dopamine hormone – responsible for feeling pleasure and delight. That makes a hard time for a smoker who wants to give up, because they need to keep the high level of dopamine, and as brain is used to receive this hormone, it can not produce it by itself.

American Heart Association once declared that nicotine addiction is known as one of the hardest addictions to break. And let me remind you that electronic cigarettes contain the same nicotine levels as regular cigarettes, thus making it impossible for a smoker to quit his nicotine addiction.

According to the National Institute of Health, one common cigarette delivers up to 10 milligrams of nicotine. At the same time, an e-cigarette can deliver nicotine varying from 0 to around 16 milligrams that is the highest nicotine level above all cigarettes including regular. Thus, companies who are advertising electronic cigarettes as the future of smoking and healthy alternative to smoking undermine all the previous effort aiming at smoking cessation.

Health authorities become more and more concerned with the spread of these devices since they are new and people may be confused believing that smoking e-cigs would not bring health complication. They are also especially worried that these “healthy” cigarettes can attract children and people who don’t smoke.

The World Health Organization once again made a warning, declaring that there was no scientific evidence to support the statement that electronic cigarettes could be a safe alternative for smoking, or a means to give up smoking.

Unlike other nicotine replacement therapies as gum, patches, or pills that give regulated shots, e-cigarettes haven’t been thoroughly tested. The majority of the sales are completed by means of the Internet stores; the prices for e-cigs vary from $60 to $240 depending on type of kit and brand popularity. Several refill cartridges alone cost equally as a pack of cigarettes.

The FDA has “detained and refused” several e-cigarettes brands because they were unregulated and unapproved and could not be marketed legally in the U.S.

So there is a simple question – if e-cigs are marketed as smoking cessation therapy why should we pay this enormous sum of money for unapproved for e-cigs rather than find approved method more suitable and less expensive?