2006年NPR美国国家公共电台十二月-Native Americans Bristle at Smoking Bans

（单词翻译）

More coming up on Day to Day from NPR News.

From NPR News, it's Day to Day. Americans are loath¹ to vote for higher taxes, except when it comes to smoking. On election days, states like Arizona and South Dakota voted for increased taxes on the sales of tobacco products. Anti-smoking ballot² initiatives passed in several states. But several semi-autonomous Indian reservations have opted³ out of these smoking bans. Wisconsin public radio's Brian Bull explains why.

At a James Will Wisconsin ranch⁴, several native Americans drum and sing to celebrate the birth of a white buffalo⁵, which they consider sacred. Azlamashelve, a Lakota from Chicago, is standing⁶ in a field, cradling a red clay pipe with a wooden stem.

"I brought my sacred pipe with me and just those medicines that go in the pipe and my heart."

Lakota tradition says white-buffalo-calf women taught that tobacco is a sacrament. Smoke from the pipe rises as an offering and prayer to the creator. Nearby, other Indians chat and puff⁷ away on cigarettes. That's a common scene that troubles Mark Caskey, wellness director for the Menomonee tribe.

"I see that once in a while about traditional, ceremonial use of tobacco and how that's really blurred⁸ today with commercial abuse of tobacco. Some native people have told me there isn't any difference."

Caskey says many Indians today smoke for leisure; so many that they are the leading group for smoking rates. Popular brands of commercial tobacco sport Indian chiefs in peace pipes on their labels. Unlike indigenous⁹ varieties, commercial tobacco's chemicals make it more potent¹⁰ and addictive¹¹. Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show 33% of native American smoke, compared to 22% for whites and blacks and only 11% for Asian Americans. Caskey says many Indian smokers¹² start very young.

"I had a native American female, and her brother brought her in to help her quit smoking because she was smoking a pack a day, and spending all of her money on Marlboros at 12 years old."

Caskey is pushing tribal¹³ members to stop leisure smoking. At a health conference in Green Bay, he explains traditional tobacco uses, some of which don't require smoking.

"The phenomenon in C(name of a region) used tobacco like a bad storm would be coming and they put it down on a rock to control the spirits that caused the bad storm…"

But outside the conference room, some Indian attendees reach for their cigarettes before rejoining the health conference. Like the Flambeau tribal member Brian Jackson supports the anti-smoking effort, but says it's hard getting fellow natives to sign on.

"You find people kinda hesitate, you know, who are you to tell me stop smoking. I don't need people to tell me what is proper use and what is not."

F. Brame is a Crow Indian mother of two, who lives in Montana. She says, for her, smoking eases the doldrums of reservation life.

"Because the economy is so bad, and everything is so hard, and everyone is so stressed out, and that's a little break from all of that."

Brame says cessation programs are a tough sale in Indian country, because smoking is so ingrained in native culture. Won Choy, at the University of Kansas Medical Center, researches native Americans' smoking. He directs a culturally attuned¹⁴ program for Indian smokers.

"At 6 months, the cessation where to somewhere around 28%, comparable to the current sort of successful program that you find among other ethnic¹⁵ groups."

Choy says the trick is not to demonize tobacco, which can alienate¹⁶ Indians, but emphasize its cultural rather than recreational holidays.

For NPR News, I am Brian Bull in Medicine Wisconsin.
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sacrament
[基督教] 圣礼, (the sacrament) 基督教圣餐
doldrums
A period of stagnation¹⁷ or slump¹⁸.
经济萧条期：经济萧条或衰落期
A period of depression or unhappy listlessness.
忧郁期：没精打采的日子，消沉的日子
attune
To bring into a harmonious¹⁹ or responsive relationship:
使协调，使一致，使适合：使进入和谐或协调的关系：
an industry that is not attuned to the demands of the market.
与市场需求不协调的工业