Alcohol Abuse in Native Communities
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The evidence is clear: alcohol
abuse in native communities is a serious problem that affects
numerous Native Hawaiian and Native Americans, including their
youth.
The damaging and fatal effects of alcoholism
and alcohol abuse experienced by native Americans need to be
studied and significantly reduced and alternative healthy options
and lifestyles need to be developed sooner rather than later if
these native communities are to prosper.
Alcohol Abuse and Societal Problems Among the Alaska
Natives
In the 1950's, significant numbers of Alaska Natives were
introduced to alcohol, which quickly became an incapacitating and
fatal reality.
By the early
1970's, for instance, alcoholism had become a leading cause of
death among Alaska Natives.
The Alaska Native suicide rate, which
was not significantly different from the national averages
throughout the 1950's, began to rise dramatically in the
1970's.
Other indicators of severe behavioral health and
societal breakdown began to significantly increase during the
1960's and 1970's.
Examples of this societal downturn include the
following: avoidable accidents, murder, assault,
psychological depression, and sex crimes (including sex crimes
against children).
Similar to Native suicides, these
anti-social and crippling community behaviors were, for the
most part, directly related to alcohol abuse. Furthermore,
these negative societal patterns were clearly observable throughout
the 1980's.
Substance Abuse Among Alaska Natives
Today, substance abuse is the number
one debilitating force among Alaska Natives. More
precisely, the suicide rate for Alaska Natives is four
times more than the national average and almost 80% of
all Alaska Native deaths are related to alcohol abuse or
alcoholism.
Additionally, the rate of fetal alcohol syndrome
among Alaska Natives is the highest for any American population
researched to date (4.2 per 1,000 live births). It is clear
that drug and alcohol abuse will continue to destroy the lives of
numerous Alaska Natives unless these Natives can be shown how to
and encouraged to focus on and actively choose more positive
options to their destructive behavioral patterns and
lifestyles.
Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse in The Village of
Minto
A good example of an Alaskan Native community that
is facing the destructive effects of alcohol abuse and alcohol
dependence is the village of Minto.
Minto has an
unemployment rate of 85-90% and is short on resources and
opportunities needed to keep residents occupied doing healthy, more
positive activities.
Alcohol consumption and abuse has
become one of the principal village activities and has had a
damaging and a destructive effect on the community as
demonstrated by the excessively high rates of alcohol-related
fatalities (e.g., suicides, cold weather exposure, and via
boat and care accidents) and the higher-than-usual rate of
fetal alcohol syndrome.
In spite of the fact that Minto has a "dry" status,
meaning that the sale and the importation of alcohol is illegal,
the youth of the Minto community clearly look as if they are the
greatest risk to the subtle, but destructive appeal of alcohol.
Quite understandably, the Minto community leaders
are concerned and on their guard about the negative impact that
alcohol abuse and alcoholism will have on the future of their
culture, their people, and their homeland.
| In the United States, almost
three times as many men (9.8 million) as women (3.9 million) abuse
alcohol or are alcohol-dependent. |
Alcohol and Substance Abuse in the Cherokee
Nation
The Cherokee people settled in
Oklahoma more than 150 years ago after the federal government
required them to leave their native home in North
Carolina. Currently, more than 65,000 Cherokee people
reside in the rural areas and towns in northeastern
Oklahoma.
Due to the fact that more than one-third of the population is 17
years old or younger, this group of Cherokee people is considered a
young population. The Cherokee youth, compared with
similarly aged white youth, however, are experiencing higher rates
of cocaine, marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco abuse.
Statistics for Native American adults has demonstrated that
substance abuse is associated with serious physical injury, police
calls, and child neglect and abuse.
For example, the Tribal Child Protective Services of the
Cherokee Nation recently reported that 39% of their total case load
points to substance abuse as a major contributing factor associated
with the aforementioned community problems.
| According to one study, alcohol
use is a factor in 40% to 60% of auto accidents resulting in
personal injury or death among American college
students. |
Data from the National Household Survey on Drug
Abuse in 1989 showed that approximately 50% of all American
adolescents have used alcohol compared with approximately 80% for
American Indian and Alaskan Native youth. The upshot of
this is that early experimentation with alcohol and drugs places
Native youth, in particular, at risk for serious health,
relationship, and community problems down the road.
|
Studies have shown that inpatient detoxification programs are
more effective and longer lasting than outpatient detox programs.
The important issue here, however, is the following: the more
severe the alcohol-related withdrawal symptoms, the more likely
that inpatient detox programs should be
used. |
Alcohol Abuse and Native
Indians
The following represents some of the key statistics
and facts regarding alcohol abuse by Native Indians.
- Alcohol and drug abuse are community and family problems among
Indians. This abuse harms all tribal members, including
the abuser and his/her family, friends, and associates.
- The negative consequences of alcohol and substance abuse
in Indian communities are mental, physical, spiritual,
and emotional.
| Factors that affect your blood
alcohol level include the following: how quickly your body
metabolizes alcohol, how quickly you consume the alcoholic drink,
how much food is in your stomach at the time you drink, and how
strong the alcoholic drink is. |
- In Indian communities, alcoholism is a multi-generational
phenomenon. Currently, alcohol dependence is negatively
affecting three or four generations and will affect most
certainly affect future generations.
- Alcoholism in Indian communities is the tip of an iceberg.
That is, alcohol dependence sits on top of a huge mass of
other underlying problems.
- Alcohol dependency frequently co-exists in Indian
communities with other problems such as stress-related acting
out, cultural shame, depression, and
self-hate.
| Factors that affect your blood
alcohol level include the following: how quickly your body
metabolizes alcohol, how quickly you consume the alcoholic drink,
how much food is in your stomach at the time you drink, and how
strong the alcoholic drink is. |
Alcohol Abuse in Native Communities:
Conclusion
Obviously, alcohol abuse in native communities
is a serious problem. Indeed, numerous Native Hawaiian and
Native Americans, including their youth, have an unfortunate
history of suffering from alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence.
The destructive and fatal consequences of alcohol addiction and
alcohol abuse experienced by native Americans need to be studied
and significantly reduced and alternative healthy options and
lifestyles need to be developed sooner rather than later if these
native communities are to prosper.
| If you
would like to listen to an informative and professionally
done "talking eBook" entitled The
Truth About Alcohol, please click on this
link. |
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| Research has demonstrated that
American children who are raised in single-family households are
almost twice as likely to experience an alcohol-related problem
such as alcohol abuse as compared with children who are raised by
both parents in the same household. |

| A wide variety of different
techniques exist for treating alcohol withdrawal. While some of
these treatments use medications (drugs), many, however, do not. In
case of point, according to current research studies, the safest
way to treat mild withdrawal symptoms is without medications. Such
types of non-drug detoxification use screening and extensive social
support throughout the entire withdrawal process. Other non-drug
detoxification programs, additionally, use proper nutrition and
vitamin therapy (especially thiamin) in treating mild withdrawal
symptoms. |
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