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Some
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans, also known as American Indians, First Americans, Indigenous Americans, and other terms, are the Indigenous peoples of the mainland United States ( Indigenous peoples of Hawaii, Alaska and territories of the United State ...
have been harmed by, or become addicted to, drinking
alcohol.
Among contemporary Native Americans and
Alaska Natives, 11.7% of all deaths are related to alcohol. By comparison, about 5.9% of global deaths are attributable to alcohol consumption. Because of negative
stereotypes
In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
and biases based on race and social class, generalizations and myths abound around the topic of Native American alcohol misuse.
A survey of death certificates from 2006 to 2010 showed that deaths among Native Americans due to alcohol are about four times as common as in the general
U.S. population
The United States had an official estimated resident population of 333,287,557 on July 1, 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This figure includes the 50 states and the District of Columbia but excludes the population of five unincorpor ...
. They are often due to
traffic collisions and
liver disease
Liver disease, or hepatic disease, is any of many diseases of the liver. If long-lasting it is termed chronic liver disease. Although the diseases differ in detail, liver diseases often have features in common.
Signs and symptoms
Some of the si ...
, with
homicide
Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...
,
suicide, and
falls also contributing.
Deaths related to alcohol among Native Americans are more common in men and among Northern Plains Indians.
Alaska Natives showed the lowest incidence of alcohol-related death.
Alcohol misuse amongst Native Americans has been shown to be associated with
development of disease, including hearing and vision problems, kidney and bladder problems, head injuries,
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
,
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
, dental problems, liver problems, and
pancreatitis
Pancreatitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreas is a large organ behind the stomach that produces digestive enzymes and a number of hormones. There are two main types: acute pancreatitis, and chronic pancr ...
. In some tribes, the rate of
fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is as high as 1.5 to 2.5 per 1,000 live births, more than seven times the national average,
while among
Alaska Natives, the rate of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is 5.6 per 1,000 live births.
Native American and Native Alaskan youth are far more likely to experiment with alcohol at a younger age than non-Native youth.
Low
self-esteem and
transgenerational trauma
Transgenerational trauma is the psychological and physiological effects that the trauma experienced by people has on subsequent generations in that group. The primary modes of transmission are the uterine environment during pregnancy causing epigen ...
have been associated with substance use disorders among Native American teens in the U.S. and Canada.
Alcohol education and prevention programs have focused on raising self-esteem, emphasizing traditional values, and recruiting Native youth to advocate for abstinence and healthy substitution.
Historically, those Native American tribes who manufactured
alcoholic drinks
An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The cons ...
used them and other
mind-altering substances
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, psychoactive agent or psychotropic drug is a chemical substance, that changes functions of the nervous system, and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behavior.
T ...
in ritual settings and rarely for personal enjoyment. Liquor was unknown until introduced by Europeans, therefore
alcohol dependence
Alcohol dependence is a previous (DSM-IV and ICD-10) psychiatric diagnosis in which an individual is physically or psychologically dependent upon alcohol (also chemically known as ethanol).
In 2013, it was reclassified as alcohol use disorde ...
was largely unknown when
European contact was made.
The use of alcohol as a trade item and the practice of intoxication for fun, or to alleviate stress, gradually undermined traditional Native American culture until by the late 18th century, alcoholism was recognized as a serious problem in many Native American communities.
Native American leaders campaigned with limited success to
educate Native Americans about the dangers of drinking and intoxication.
Legislation prohibiting the sale of alcohol to Native Americans generally failed to prevent alcohol-related social and
health problems
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that ar ...
, and discriminatory legislation was abandoned in the 1950s in favor of laws passed in Native American communities by Native Americans.
Modern treatment focuses on culturally appropriate strategies that emphasize traditional activities designed to promote spiritual harmony and
group solidarity
Group cohesiveness (also called group cohesion and social cohesion) arises when bonds link members of a social group to one another and to the group as a whole. Although cohesion is a multi-faceted process, it can be broken down into four main co ...
.
History
Pre-Columbian Native Americans fermented starchy seeds and roots as well as fruits from both wild and domesticated plants.
Among the most common are drinks made from fermented corn, agave, and manioc.
Aboriginal use of alcohol generally took place in shared
spiritual experiences that often arose out of the
shamanistic tradition and was invested with expectations of improved well-being, as opposed to individual enjoyment or entertainment.
Before contact, Native Americans used mind-altering substances to communicate with the spirit world, and intoxication was "associated with a
quest for enlightenment, powers of healing, and the facilitation of war-making.
hey relatedthe new phenomenon of intoxication ... to the old concepts of dreaming, communion with the spirit world, and the acquisition of power."
Aberrant behavior while intoxicated was frequently forgiven (for example, among the
Catawba Catawba may refer to:
*Catawba people, a Native American tribe in the Carolinas
*Catawba language, a language in the Catawban languages family
*Catawban languages
Botany
*Catalpa, a genus of trees, based on the name used by the Catawba and other N ...
and the
Lakota Sioux) as though the drinker had been
possessed
Possessed may refer to:
Possession
* Possession (disambiguation), having some degree of control over something else
** Spirit possession, whereby gods, demons, animas, or other disincarnate entities may temporarily take control of a human body
*** ...
by powers beyond his or her control.
[Gilbert Quintero "Making the Indian: Colonial Knowledge, Alcohol, and Native Americans." ''American Indian Culture and Research Journal'', 2001, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 57–71](_blank)
/ref>
Influence of Mesoamerica
Pre-Columbian Native Americans in Mexico and Central America prepared over forty different alcoholic beverages from a variety of plants and plant extracts. Traditional Mayan
Mayan most commonly refers to:
* Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Mayan languages, language family spoken ...
beverages have included:
* ''Balché
''Balché'' is a mildly intoxicating beverage that was commonly consumed by the ancient Maya in what is now Mexico and upper Central America. Today, it is still common among the Yucatec Maya. The drink is made from the bark of a leguminous tree, ...
'', made from the bark of ''Lonchocarpus violaceus
''Lonchocarpus violaceus'' is a species of evergreen tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to the Caribbean and northern South America. It has been introduced to Florida. Its names include lilac tree, greenheart, Spanish ash, and lancepod.
A ...
'' soaked in honey and water and fermented.
* '' Xtabentún'', made from honey produced from the nectar of a species of morning glory
Morning glory (also written as morning-glory) is the common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae, whose current taxonomy and systematics are in flux. Morning glory species belong to many genera, some of ...
''(Turbina corymbosa
''Ipomoea corymbosa'' is a species of morning glory, native throughout Latin America from Mexico as far south as Peru and widely naturalised elsewhere. Its common names include Christmasvine, Christmaspops, and snakeplant.
Description and names ...
)''.
* Coyol wine Coyol wine, or chicha de coyol is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from the sap of coyol palms. It has been made and consumed in Southern Mexico for thousands of years. It is primarily made and consumed in certain regions of Central America l ...
or ''chicha de coyol'', made from the sap
Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant.
Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separ ...
of coyol palms.
* ''Colonche
Colonche is an alcoholic red coloured drink from Mexico prepared with ''tuna'', the fruits of "nopal" ('' Opuntia'' cacti), especially with ''tuna cardona'', the fruits of '' Opuntia streptacantha''.
It is prepared in the states where wild nopa ...
'', made with the fruits of '' Opuntia streptacantha'' (prickly pear).[Rafael Lira, Alejandro Casas, José Blancas, ''Ethnobotany of Mexico: Interactions of People and Plants in Mesoamerica'', Springer, 2016; pp. 116-119.](_blank)
/ref>
* ''Tepache
Tepache is a fermented beverage made from the peel and the rind of pineapples, and is sweetened either with ''piloncillo'' or brown sugar, seasoned with powdered cinnamon, and served cold. Though tepache is fermented for several days, the resul ...
'', made from the peel and rind of pineapples.
* ''Tesgüino
Tesgüino is an artisanal corn beer produced by several Yuto-Aztec people.[El T ...]
'' and ''sotol
Sotol is a distilled spirit from the Chihuahuan desert northern Mexico, western Texas sourced from the family of Asparagaceae; the genus Dasylirion and several species, most commonly: ''Dasylirion wheeleri'', Dasylirion durangense, ''Dasyliri ...
'' made by the Huichol
The Huichol or Wixárika are an indigenous people of Mexico and the United States living in the Sierra Madre Occidental range in the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Durango, as well as in the United States in the states of California ...
Indians from ''Dasylirion wheeleri
''Dasylirion wheeleri'' (desert spoon, spoon flower, sotol, or common sotol) is a species of flowering plant in the asparagus family (Asparagaceae), native to arid environments of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States.
Description
...
'' (commonly known as Desert Spoon or ''sotol''), guavas
Guava () is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava '' Psidium guajava'' (lemon guava, apple guava) is a small tree in the myrtle family ( Myrtaceae), native to Mexico, Central America, the ...
, and corn stalks.
Traditional drinks made from fermented corn or corn flour include ''tejuino
Tejuino is a cold fermented beverage made from corn and popularly consumed in the Mexican states of Jalisco and Chihuahua. Tejuino is usually made from corn dough, the same kind used for tortillas and tamales. The dough is mixed with water and ...
'', ''pozol
Pozol (from the Nahuatl ) is the name of both fermented corn dough and the cocoa drink made from it, which has its origins in Pre-Columbian Mexico. The drink is consumed in the south of Mexico in the states of Chiapas and Tabasco. It is a th ...
'', ''chicha
''Chicha'' is a fermented (alcoholic) or non-fermented beverage of Latin America, emerging from the Andes and Amazonia regions. In both the pre- and post-Spanish conquest periods, corn beer (''chicha de jora'') made from a variety of maize land ...
'' or ''chicha de jora
Chicha de jora is a corn beer or chicha prepared by germinating maize, extracting the malt sugars, boiling the wort, and fermenting it in large vessels (traditionally huge earthenware vats) for several days. The process is essentially similar to ...
'', and ''pox
Pox may refer to:
Diseases
*Poxviridae, a family of viruses
*Buffalopox, a disease of buffaloes
*Camelpox, a disease of camels
*Canarypox, a disease of wild and captive birds
*Chickenpox, a highly contagious illness caused by a primary infection ...
''.
Cacao wine
Evidence from Puerto Escondido dating to the formative stage
Several chronologies in the archaeology of the Americas include a Formative Period or Formative stage etc. It is often sub-divided, for example into "Early", "Middle" and "Late" stages.
The Formative is the third of five stages defined by Go ...
of the Olmec
The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that t ...
Culture (1100-900 BC) indicates that a weak alcoholic beverage was made from fermented cacao pulp and stored in pottery containers. This is probably the earliest known consumption of cacao. Fermentation is an early step in the process later used to produce the nonalcoholic chocolate beverage widely consumed in Mesoamerica.
Pulque or ''octli''
For at least 1,800 years the indigenous peoples of the Central Highlands of Mexico have brewed pulque
Pulque (; nci, metoctli), or octli, is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented sap of the maguey (agave) plant. It is traditional in central Mexico, where it has been produced for millennia. It has the color of milk, a rather viscous co ...
(Nahuatl
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...
: ''ometochtli
In Aztec mythology, Ometochtli is the collective or generic name of various individual deities and supernatural figures associated with pulque ('), an alcoholic beverage derived from the fermented sap of the ''maguey'' plant. By the Late Postclass ...
'' or ''octli'') from the fermented
Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food ...
sap of the maguey (agave) plant. Gas chromatographic analysis of ceramic vessels in Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is ...
, dated to AD 200–550, found evidence that they once contained pulque. For the Aztecs
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...
, the imbibing of pulque was done only by certain people, under certain conditions. It was a ritual drink, consumed during festivals such as that of the goddess Mayahuel
Mayahuel () is the female deity associated with the maguey plant among cultures of central Mexico in the Postclassic era of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican chronology, and in particular of the Aztec cultures. As the personification of the maguey plant, ...
, and the god Mixcoatl
Mixcoatl ( nah, Mixcōhuātl}, from mixtli "cloud" and cōātl "serpent"), or Camaxtle or Camaxtli, was the god of the hunt and identified with the Milky Way, the stars, and the heavens in several Mesoamerican cultures. He was the patron deity ...
. Bernardino de Sahagún
Bernardino de Sahagún, OFM (; – 5 February 1590) was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer who participated in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain (now Mexico). Born in Sahagún, Spain, in 1499, he ...
records the Aztec ceremony associated with drinking:
Libation
A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid, or grains such as rice, as an offering to a deity or spirit, or in memory of the dead. It was common in many religions of antiquity and continues to be offered in cultures today.
Various substa ...
was done in this manner: when ''octli'' was drunk, when they tasted the new ''octli'', when someone had just made ''octli'' ... he summoned people. He set it out in a vessel before the hearth, along with small cups for drinking. Before having anyone drink, he took up ''octli'' with a cup and then poured it before the hearth; he poured the ''octli'' in the four directions. And when he had poured the ''octli'' then everyone drank it.
Pulque was drunk by Aztec priests and their sacrificial victims, to increase the priests' enthusiasm and to ease the suffering of the victim. Among commoners, it was permitted only to the elderly and pregnant or lactating women due to the association between pulque and fertility, purification and renewal.[Deborah Toner, ''Alcohol and Nationhood in Nineteenth-Century Mexico'', U. of Nebraska Press, 2015](_blank)
Production of pulque was ritualized and the brewers would abstain from sex during the fermentation period. During most festivals, participants were not permitted to drink more than four cups of pulque, and Aztec folklore describes the likely fate of people who drank too much, including death by disease or accident. Exaggerated tales of the Huastec people
The Huastec or Téenek (contraction of ''Te' Inik'', "people from here"; also known as Huaxtec, Wastek or Huastecos) are an indigenous people of Mexico, living in the La Huasteca region including the states of Hidalgo, Veracruz, San Luis Potos ...
characterized them as habitual drunkards and detailed their shameful behavior under the influence of alcohol, in an effort to discourage drunkenness among the Aztecs. Elderly Aztecs who had reached the age of 70 and had raised families could drink as much as they wanted, as long as their children carried them home safely, keeping them covered up and "restraining and guiding" them so they would avoid "committing excesses and transgressions," and not fall "into a river or a hole." Drunkenness was also viewed as a means of establishing communication between humans and the gods, and was therefore not considered appropriate for commoners. Alcoholic intoxication was seen as an act of transcending the boundaries of human, divine and natural forces, one that should only be done by accomplished, brave and important members of society so as to avoid offending the supernatural world. Among the Maya, pulque was referred to as ''chih'' and was flavored with honey and spices.
Pre-colonial North America
Prior to contact with colonists, alcohol use and production were mainly concentrated in the southwestern United States. In 2007, archaeologist Glenna Dean conducted studies to show that, between AD 828 and 1126, Pueblos
The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zu ...
in Chaco Canyon
Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in the American Southwest hosting a concentration of pueblos. The park is located in northwestern New Mexico, between Albuquerque and Farmington, in a remote c ...
were brewing a weak beer made by fermenting kernels of corn. Gas chromatography analysis of 800-year-old potsherds
This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains.
A
B
C
D
E
F
...
found at Pueblo Bonito
Pueblo Bonito (Spanish for ''beautiful town'') is the largest and best-known great house in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, northern New Mexico. It was built by the Ancestral Puebloans who occupied the structure between AD 828 and 1126 ...
in 2006 contained residues consistent with fermented corn products.
Some Native American tribes produced weak beers, wine, and other fermented beverages, but the alcohol was naturally limited to 8–14% ABV
Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...
, and they were used only for ceremonial purposes. The still
A still is an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic distillation apparatus, but on a much larger scale. Stills have been used ...
, required to make stronger alcoholic beverages, was unknown. The Tohono O'odham, Piman
Piman (or Tepiman) refers to a group of languages within the Uto-Aztecan family that are spoken by ethnic groups (including the Pima) spanning from Arizona in the north to Durango, Mexico in the south.
The Piman languages are as follows (Campb ...
, Apache
The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...
, and Maricopa people
The Maricopa or PiipaashBarry Pritzker, ''A Native American Encyclopedia.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998; p. 56 are a Native American tribe, who live in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and Gila River Indian Community alo ...
all used the saguaro cactus
The saguaro (, ) (''Carnegiea gigantea'') is a tree-like cactus species in the monotypic genus ''Carnegiea'' that can grow to be over tall. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, and the Whipple Mountains ...
to produce a wine, sometimes called ''tiswin
Tiswin (also known as Tesgüino and Tejuino in Mexico) is an alcoholic beverage brewed from corn. Tiswin is also the sacred saguaro wine of the Tohono O'odham, a group of aboriginal Americans who reside primarily in the Sonoran Desert of the south ...
'' or ''haren a pitahaya''. The Chiricahua prepared a kind of corn beer
Corn beer is a beer style made from corn (maize). The drink is a traditional beverage in various cuisines. Chicha, the best-known corn beer, is widespread in the Andes and local varieties of corn beer exist elsewhere.
History
Corn beer in the A ...
called ''tula-pah'' using sprouted corn kernels, dried and ground, flavored with locoweed
Locoweed (also crazyweed and loco) is a common name in North America for any plant that produces swainsonine, a phytotoxin harmful to livestock. Worldwide, swainsonine is produced by a small number of species, most of them in three genera of the f ...
or lignum vitae
Lignum vitae () is a wood, also called guayacan or guaiacum, and in parts of Europe known as Pockholz or pokhout, from trees of the genus ''Guaiacum''. The trees are indigenous to the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America (e.g: Col ...
roots, placed in water and allowed to ferment. The Coahuiltecan
The Coahuiltecan were various small, autonomous bands of Native Americans who inhabited the Rio Grande valley in what is now southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. The various Coahuiltecan groups were hunter-gatherers. First encountered by Europ ...
in Texas combined mountain laurel with agave
''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the hot and arid regions of the Americas and the Caribbean, although some ''Agave'' species are also native to tropical areas of North America, such as Mexico. The genus is primarily known for ...
sap to create an alcoholic drink similar to pulque, and the Zunis
The Zuni ( zun, A:shiwi; formerly spelled ''Zuñi'') are Native American Pueblo peoples native to the Zuni River valley. The Zuni are a Federally recognized tribe and most live in the Pueblo of Zuni on the Zuni River, a tributary of the Lit ...
were believed to have made fermented beverages from aloe
''Aloe'' (; also written ''Aloë'') is a genus containing over 650 species of flowering succulent plants.WFO (2022): Aloe L. Published on the Internet;http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-4000001341. Accessed on: 06 Nov 2022 The most wid ...
, maguey Maguey may refer to various American plants:
* Genus '' Agave'', especially
** Species ''Agave americana'', the century plant
** Species ''Agave salmiana
''Agave salmiana'' (also known as ''maguey pulquero'' and green maguey) is a species of the ...
, corn, prickly pear, pitaya
A pitaya () or pitahaya () is the fruit of several different cactus species indigenous to the Americas. Pitaya usually refers to fruit of the genus '' Stenocereus'', while pitahaya or dragon fruit refers to fruit of the genus '' Selenicereus' ...
, and even grapes.
In eastern North America the Creek of Georgia and Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
of the Carolinas used berries and other fruits to make alcoholic beverages,[Cherrington, EH. "Aborigines of North America." In E. H. Cherrington (Ed.), ''Standard Encyclopedia of the Alcohol Problem'', Westerville, OH 1925; Vol I, pp. 3-42.] and there is some evidence that the Huron
Huron may refer to:
People
* Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America
* Wyandot language, spoken by them
* Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec
* Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...
made a mild beer by soaking corn in water to produce a fermented gruel to be consumed at tribal feasts. In the northwest, the Kwakiutl of Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...
produced a mildly alcoholic drink using elderberry
''Sambucus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly called elder or elderberry. The genus was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but was reclassified as Adoxaceae due to ge ...
juice, black chitons
Chitons () are marine molluscs of varying size in the class Polyplacophora (), formerly known as Amphineura. About 940 extant and 430 fossil species are recognized.
They are also sometimes known as gumboots or sea cradles or coat-of-mail sh ...
, and tobacco. Native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawaii ...
produced ''okolehao
Okolehao is a Hawaiian alcoholic spirit whose main ingredient was the root of the ti plant. Okolehao's forerunner was a fermented ti root beverage or beer. When distillation techniques were introduced by English seamen in 1790, it was distilled ...
'' from juice extracted from the roots of the ti plant. Despite the fact that they had little to no agriculture, both the Aleuts
The Aleuts ( ; russian: Алеуты, Aleuty) are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleut people and the islands are politically divided between the U ...
and Yuit
Central Siberian Yupik, (also known as Siberian Yupik, Bering Strait Yupik, Yuit, Yoit, "St. Lawrence Island Yupik", and in Russia "Chaplinski Yupik" or Yuk) is an endangered Yupik language spoken by the indigenous Siberian Yupik people along th ...
of Kodiak Island
Kodiak Island (Alutiiq: ''Qikertaq''), is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second larges ...
in Alaska were observed making alcoholic drinks from fermented raspberries.
European colonization
A number of early accounts report that many Native Americans had no tradition of making alcoholic beverages, and did not know the effects of alcohol. Rather than approval, most Native peoples initially responded to alcohol with distaste and suspicion. They considered drunkenness "degrading to free men" and questioned the motives of those who would offer a substance that was so offensive to the senses and that made men foolish. Most Native people who did drink alcohol were reported to show "remarkable restraint while in their cups."[Don L. Coyhis and William L. White, ''Alcohol Problems in Native America: The Untold Story of Resistance and Recovery,'' Colorado Springs, CO: Coyhis Publishing & Consulting, Inc., 2006](_blank)
/ref> Most drank alcohol only during social or trading contact with whites.
When Europeans began making a large quantity of distilled spirits and wine available to Native Americans, the tribes had very little time to adapt and develop social, legal, or moral guidelines to regulate alcohol use. Early traders offered alcohol in trade, exchanging it for highly sought-after animal skins and other materials and resources. Traders also discovered that giving free alcohol to Native Americans during trading sessions gave them a distinct advantage during negotiations. Extreme intoxication was common among the colonists, contrary to the inexperienced native populations.
By the early 1700s the effects of alcohol use disorder
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...
were damaging Native American communities.[Peter C. Mancall, ''Deadly Medicine: Indians and Alcohol in Early America'', Cornell University Press, 1997.](_blank)
Rum as well as brandy and other distilled beverage
Liquor (or a spirit) is an alcoholic drink produced by distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar, that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. Other terms for liquor include: spirit drink, distilled beverage or hard li ...
s had become important trade items and essential elements in diplomatic councils, treaty negotiations, and political transactions, and had become part of Native American gift-giving rituals. The result was the erosion of civility, an increase in violence, and widespread health problems
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that ar ...
. Alcohol made men less reliable hunters and allies, destabilized village economics, and contributed to a rise in poverty.[A. Glynn Henderson, "The Lower Shawnee Town on Ohio: Sustaining Native Autonomy in an Indian "Republic"." In Craig Thompson Friend, ed., ''The Buzzel about Kentuck: Settling the Promised Land'', University Press of Kentucky, 1999; pp. 25-56.](_blank)
The minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania for 16 May 1704 record a complaint submitted by Chief Ortiagh of the Conestoga Indians:
Great quantities of rum recontinually brought to their town, insomuch as they reruined by it, having nothing left but have laid out all, even their clothes, for rum, and may now, when threatened with war, be surprised by their enemies when beside themselves with drink, and so be utterly destroyed.
John Lawson described the effects of alcohol on the tribes of North Carolina, which he observed during his travels there in 1700-1708:
Most of the Savages are much addicted to Drunkenness, a Vice they never were acquainted with, till the Christians came amongst them. Some of them refrain drinking strong Liquors, but very few of that sort are found amongst them. Their chief Liquor is Rum, without any Mixture. This the English bring amongst them, and buy Skins, Furs, Slaves and other of their Commodities therewith. They never are contented with a little, but when once begun, they must make themselves quite drunk; otherwise they will never rest, but sell all they have in the World, rather than not have their full Dose. In these drunken Frolicks, (which are always carried on in the Night) they sometimes murder one another, fall into the Fire, fall down Precipices, and break their Necks, with several other Misfortunes which this drinking of Rum brings upon them; and tho' they are sensible of it, yet they have no Power to refrain this Enemy. About five years ago, when Landgrave Daniel was Governor, he summon'd in all the Indian Kings and Rulers to meet, and in a full Meeting of the Government and Council, with those Indians, they agreed upon a firm Peace, and the Indian Rulers desired no Rum might be sold to them, which was granted, and a Law made, that inflicted a Penalty on those that sold Rum to the Heathens; but it was never strictly observ'd, and besides, the young Indians were so disgusted at that Article, that they threatened to kill the Indians that made it, unless it was laid aside, and they might have Rum sold them, when they went to the Englishmen's Houses to buy it.
European-American
European Americans (also referred to as Euro-Americans) are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes people who are descended from the first European settlers in the United States as well as people who are descended from more recent Eu ...
settler
A settler is a person who has human migration, migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area.
A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a ...
s often viewed immoderate drinking as a sign that Native American culture was decaying and was unable to cope with the modern world. The obliteration of indigenous cultures was often regarded as an inevitable consequence of "progress." In 1753, Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
witnessed a drunken brawl in Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census, ...
, after providing rum to a party of Iroquois in exchange for their cooperation during treaty["Treaty of Carlisle, 1 November 1753," Founders Online, National Archives. [Original source: ''The Papers of Benjamin Franklin'', vol. 5, July 1, 1753, through March 31, 1755, ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962, pp. 84–107].](_blank)
/ref> discussions, and wrote in his autobiography:
hey
Hey or Hey! may refer to:
Music
* Hey (band), a Polish rock band
Albums
* ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014
* ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980
* ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...
are extremely apt to get drunk, and when so are very quarrelsome & disorderly ... indeed if it be the Design of Providence to extirpate these Savages in order to make room for Cultivators of the Earth, it seems not improbable that Rum may be the appointed Means. It has already annihilated all the Tribes who formerly inhabited the Sea-coast.
At the same treaty conference, the Oneida
Oneida may refer to:
Native American/First Nations
* Oneida people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy
* Oneida language
* Oneida Indian Nation, based in New York
* Oneida Na ...
leader Scarouady Scarouady (also spelled Scarowady, Scarrouady, Scaroyady, Scarujade, Scaiohady, Skaronyade, Scaronage, Scruniyatha, Seruniyattha, or Skaruntia) was an Oneida tribe, Oneida leader at Logstown. He was sometimes referred to as Monacatuatha (also rend ...
complained:
Your Traders now bring scarce any Thing but Rum and Flour. ... The Rum ruins us. We beg you would prevent its coming in such Quantities, by regulating the Traders ... We desire it may be forbidden, and none sold in the Indian Country. ... When these Whiskey Traders come, they bring thirty or forty Cags, and put them down before us, and make us drink; and get all the Skins that should go to pay the Debts we have contracted for Goods bought of the Fair Traders; and by this Means, we not only ruin ourselves, but them too. These wicked Whiskey Sellers, when they have once got the Indians in Liquor, make them sell their very Clothes from their Backs. In short, if this Practice be continued, we must be inevitably ruined: We most earnestly therefore beseech you to remedy it.
In 1773 the missionary David Zeisberger
David Zeisberger (April 11, 1721 – November 17, 1808) was a Moravian clergyman and missionary among the Native American tribes who resided in the Thirteen Colonies. He established communities of Munsee (Lenape) converts to Christianity in the ...
was preaching in Shawnee
The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
communities in Ohio when he encountered Chief Gischenatsi, who told the missionary that the sale of alcohol was a deliberate attempt to undermine indigenous culture:
As the white people understand the weakness and incapacity of the Indians, they have a certain power over us, while pretending that, with all their deception, they mean well by the Indians. They come and bring rum into our towns, offer it to the Indians and say, drink; this they will do until they become quite beside themselves and act as though they were out of their heads. hen
Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman.
Hen or Hens may also refer to:
Places Norway
*Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...
the white people stand, and point at them with their fingers, laugh at them and say, see what great fools the Shawanose are. But who makes them so foolish, who is at fault?
Alcohol and cultural genocide
In his research for the Genocide Convention
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition. It was ...
, Raphael Lemkin
Raphael Lemkin ( pl, Rafał Lemkin; 24 June 1900 – 28 August 1959) was a Polish lawyer who is best known for coining the term ''genocide'' and initiating the Genocide Convention, an interest spurred on after learning about the Armenian genocid ...
proposed that distribution of alcohol was one of several tools (such as forced relocations, destruction of cultural symbols, and "re-education" of children) by which European-American colonists committed cultural genocide
Cultural genocide or cultural cleansing is a concept which was proposed by lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944 as a component of genocide. Though the precise definition of ''cultural genocide'' remains contested, the Armenian Genocide Museum defines ...
in North America. Lemkin theorized that the availability of alcohol undermined social integrity, promoted violence, impeded organized resistance, and contributed to the belief that Native Americans were culturally inferior. Lemkin argued that once a people becomes dependent on alcohol "the desire for cheap individual pleasure ould Ould is an English surname and an Arabic name ( ar, ولد). In some Arabic dialects, particularly Hassaniya Arabic, ولد (the patronymic, meaning "son of") is transliterated as Ould. Most Mauritanians have patronymic surnames.
Notable p ...
be substituted for the desire for collective feelings and ideals based on a higher morality."
The effects of Indian removal and relocation
Following the passage of the Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for ...
in 1830, large numbers of Native Americans were forcibly relocated to designated lands west of the Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
. This created concentrated populations of displaced, demoralized, and often traumatized Indians, frequently resettled in desolate, barren country where hunting and farming were difficult. In this environment of an already-disrupted, fragmented society, the demand for alcohol was high, and white businessmen quickly discovered that bison hunters
Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised.
Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Amer ...
would trade hides for alcohol at a fraction of their commercial value. Hundreds of new businesses were established to take advantage of the growing market for buffalo hide, used for machinery belts, army boots
Combat boots are military boots designed to be worn by soldiers during combat or combat training, as opposed to during parades and other ceremonial duties. Modern combat boots are designed to provide a combination of grip, ankle stability, and ...
, robes and rugs. On his wagon trip from the Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
to the South Platte
The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/ Mountain West. Its ...
in the winter of 1839–1840, Indian trader James Beckwourth
James Pierson Beckwourth (born Beckwith, April 26, 1798 or 1800 – October 29, 1866 or 1867), was an American mountain man, fur trader, and explorer. Beckwourth was known as "Bloody Arm" because of his skill as a fighter. He was mixed-race and ...
bartered twenty gallons of whiskey for sixteen horses and over two hundred buffalo robes from the Indians. Beckwourth reported that "one pint of alcohol, costing no more than six cents n Missouri was ilutedinto five times the quantity of whiskey, usually one pint for one buffalo robe," which would sell for more than ten dollars in St. Louis. By 1841, businessman William Bent
William Wells Bent (May 23, 1809 – May 19, 1869) was a frontier trader and rancher in the American West, with forts in Colorado. He also acted as a mediator among the Cheyenne Nation, other Native American tribes and the expanding United St ...
was shipping over 27,000 buffalo hides annually to St. Louis, most of them traded from Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
, Arapahoe
The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota.
By the 1850s, Arapaho band ...
and Kiowa
Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and eve ...
hunters in exchange for whiskey. To evade federal laws prohibiting whites from selling alcohol to Indians, many traders (including Bent) married Native American women and were formally inducted into their tribes.
During subsequent years alcohol further destabilized Native American communities. Indian Agent Richard Cummins at Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., an ...
wrote: "it is ardent spirits that causes many of them to steal one from another, to kill one another in combats when drunk, ndto neglect all kinds of business." By the 1850s, tribal populations entered into a steep decline: in 1857 the Kansa numbered 1,237, and by 1862 there were only 802. By 1872 tribal population was down to 700, with no males over the age of fifty-five. Other tribes shrank at a similar rate. The problem of alcohol use disorder worsened when in 1872 the Nonintercourse Act was amended to allow Indians to sell and trade alcohol among themselves.
The Indian Relocation Act of 1956
The Indian Relocation Act of 1956 (also known as Public Law 959 or the Adult Vocational Training Program) was a United States law intended to create a "a program of vocational training" for Native Americans in the United States. Critics charact ...
financed the relocation of over six thousand Native Americans from reservations to cities, and funded the establishment of job training centers.[Rebecca L. Robbins, "Self-Determination and Subordination: the Past, Present, and Future of American Indian Governance" (87:122) in M. Annette Jaimes (editor), ''The State of Native America: Genocide, Colonization, and Resistance'', ]South End Press
South End Press was a non-profit book publisher run on a model of participatory economics. It was founded in 1977 by Michael Albert, Lydia Sargent, Juliet Schor, among others, in Boston's South End. It published books written by political activi ...
, . p. 99. However, the program had devastating long-term effects on this population. Many of the Native Americans relocated to urban areas found themselves homeless, unemployed, in poverty, without a strong cultural base or community and unable to achieve economic stability. Native Americans living in urban areas typically experience higher rates of alcohol use compared to other ethnicities as a result of acculturative stress directly and indirectly associated with historical trauma
Historical trauma (HT), as used by psychotherapists social workers, historians, and psychologists, refers to the cumulative emotional harm of an individual or generation caused by a traumatic experience or event. Historical Trauma Response (HTR) ...
.
Legislation controlling access to alcohol
By the early eighteenth century it had become clear that alcohol was harming Native American society and health. A series of local regulations were passed beginning as early as October 1701, when the Pennsylvania Assembly
The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times (1682–1776), the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania ...
prohibited the sale of rum to the Indians, however as the law was poorly enforced and the penalty was light—a fine of ten pounds and confiscation of any illegal supplies—rum continued to be used to barter
In trade, barter (derived from ''baretor'') is a system of exchange in which participants in a transaction directly exchange goods or services for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. Economists distingu ...
for furs. In 1745, partly due to the complaints of Shawnee chief Peter Chartier
Peter Chartier (16901759) (Anglicized version of Pierre Chartier, sometimes written Chartiere, Chartiers, Shartee or Shortive) was a fur trader of mixed Shawnee and French parentage. Multilingual, he later became a leader and a band chief among ...
, the fine was doubled and the Shawnees were authorized to destroy any supplies of rum brought illegally into their communities. In 1767, regulations adopted at the Augusta Conference in the Province of Georgia
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outs ...
attempted to limit the amount of alcohol brought into Native American communities to no more than fifteen gallons of rum, although this referred mainly to the Creek, Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
and Catawba Indians
The Catawba, also known as Issa, Essa or Iswä but most commonly ''Iswa'' (Catawba: '' Ye Iswąˀ'' – "people of the river"), are a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans, known as the Catawba Indian Nation. Their current lands ar ...
.["Regulations for the Better Carrying on the Trade with the Indian Tribes in the Southern District." Quoted i]
Kathryn E. Braund, ''Deerskins and Duffels: Creek Indian Trade with Anglo-America, 1685-1815''. Indians of the Southeast, U. of Nebraska Press, 1996.
The Indian Nonintercourse Act
On 30 March 1802, federal action was taken to restrict the transport of alcohol into indigenous communities, when Congress (at the urging of Chief Little Turtle
Little Turtle ( mia, Mihšihkinaahkwa) (1747 July 14, 1812) was a Sagamore (chief) of the Miami people, who became one of the most famous Native American military leaders. Historian Wiley Sword calls him "perhaps the most capable Indian leader ...
) passed the revised Indian Nonintercourse Act authorizing the president "to take such measures, from time to time, as to him may appear expedient to prevent or restrain the vending or distributing of spirituous liquors among all or any Indian tribes." But beyond giving the President responsibility for monitoring alcohol sold to Native Americans, the law made little difference to the expanding commercial sales of rum and whiskey along the frontier. No other conclusive action was taken until 1832, when the Office of Commissioner of Indian Affairs was created, primarily to settle land disputes, but also to restrict the sale of alcohol on Indian lands: "No ardent spirits shall be hereafter introduced, under any pretense, into the Indian country," stated the act which created this office.
Recognizing that penalties and exceptions needed to be written into law, Congress passed 25 U.S.C. § 177, "Act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, and to preserve peace on the frontiers" on 30 June 1834, superseding the old Nonintercourse Act of 1802 and imposing a fine of $500 for anyone who "shall sell, exchange, or give, barter, or dispose of, any spirituous liquor or wine to an Indian, (in Indian country)." The law provided exceptions for alcohol intended for US government troops, and stipulated that any supplies of illegal alcohol could be confiscated and destroyed. An additional provision in the law mandated a "$1,000 fine for setting up and operating a distillery in Indian Country for manufacturing ardent spirits," to prevent entrepreneurs from making alcohol rather than importing it. Immediate results were encouraging: by 1835 the first Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Elbert Herring, declared, "The exclusion of ardent spirits, where it could be effected, has done much good." This act was amended multiple times but remained in force until 1953.
Prohibition on Indian land
An 1847 amendment introduced prison terms for those convicted of selling or attempting to sell alcohol "in Indian country." It also prohibited the distribution of goods or annuities
In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals.Kellison, Stephen G. (1970). ''The Theory of Interest''. Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc. p. 45 Examples of annuities are regular deposits to a savings account, m ...
to Indians under the influence of liquor, or when there was ready access to liquor. Goods and annuities could not be distributed until chiefs "have pledged themselves to use all their influence, and to make all proper exertions, to prevent the introduction and sale of such liquor in their country." The problem with this law was that it did not prevent the sale of alcohol to Native Americans, but only that which occurred ''on Indian land''. Alcohol could still be legally purchased in white communities by Native Americans, and taken home. In 1861 Commissioner William P. Dole reported: "Unprincipled traders, debarred by law from going upon the reservations, gather upon their borders, and by means of this traffic ... they filch from the Indian his little all, often reducing him to a state of utter want and destitution."
On 15 March 1864 an amendment was passed making it illegal to "sell, exchange, give, barter, or dispose of any spirituous liquors or wine to any Indian under the charge of any Indian superintendent or Indian agent
In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with American Indian tribes on behalf of the government.
Background
The federal regulation of Indian affairs in the United States first included development of t ...
appointed by the United States." In the decades following the US Civil War, it was illegal to sell alcohol to Indians, but it was not illegal for Native Americans themselves to buy alcohol. By 1891 most Native Americans living in the United States were confined to Indian reservations
An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...
, but enforcing the prohibition of alcohol was difficult. Indians refused to testify against whites who sold them alcohol and juries were reluctant to convict businessmen, who were often reputable members of the community, based on the testimony of an Indian, usually a known alcoholic. Judges frequently imposed less than the maximum penalty on convicted offenders, sometimes ordering fines of $1 and prison terms of one day. In at least one case, the defendant was acquitted by a lenient judge even after pleading guilty.
In 1876 the US Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...
recommended that Congress take action to restrict the sale of alcohol near reservations. In '' United States v. Forty-Three Gallons of Whiskey'', Associate Justice David Davis wrote the opinion of the court that
If liquor is injurious to them inside of a reservation, it is equally so outside of it; and why cannot Congress forbid its introduction into a place near by, which they would be likely to frequent? It is easy to see that the love of liquor would tempt them to stray beyond their borders to obtain it; and that bad white men, knowing this, would carry on the traffic in adjoining localities.
Such action has been taken locally in several states, including in 2017 when the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission voted to deny license renewals to the four liquor stores in Whiteclay, Nebraska
Whiteclay (Lakota language, Lakota: ''Makȟásaŋ''; "whiteish or yellowish clay") is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place in Sheridan County, Nebraska, Sheridan County, Nebraska, United States. The populatio ...
, on the edge of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation ( lkt, Wazí Aháŋhaŋ Oyáŋke), also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Indian reservation located entirely within the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Gr ...
.
The problem of beer
In 1892 the United States District Court for the District of Montana found that beer was not included in the law's specification that " spirituous liquors" (which had included wine since 1834) were not to be sold or given to Indians. The result was a sudden introduction of beer saloons into reservations across the west. The agent in Muskegee, Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
(Arkansas), reported "the opening of beer saloons in every village in the agency, almost without exception. The Indian and Federal laws were openly, flagrantly, and defiantly violated, drunkenness and its train of evils held full sway." Patent medicine
A patent medicine, sometimes called a proprietary medicine, is an over-the-counter (nonprescription) medicine or medicinal preparation that is typically protected and advertised by a trademark and trade name (and sometimes a patent) and claimed ...
s such as Jamaica ginger
Jamaica ginger extract, known in the United States by the slang name Jake, was a late 19th-century patent medicine that provided a convenient way to obtain alcohol during the era of Prohibition, since it contained approximately 70% to 80% ethan ...
and cooking flavors such as lemon extract containing a high alcohol content were also being sold in large quantities on reservations. The 1893 amendment to the law prohibited "ardent spirits, ale, beer, wine or intoxicating liquors or liquors of whatever kind," punishable with imprisonment for not more than two years and fines of not more than $300 for each offense. An 1897 amendment to the Indian Appropriations Act
The Indian Appropriations Act is the name of several acts passed by the United States Congress. A considerable number of acts were passed under the same name throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, but the most notable landmark acts cons ...
(29 Stat. at L. 506, chap. 109), provides: That any person who shall sell, give away, dispose of, exchange, or barter any malt, spirituous, or vinous liquor, including beer, ale, and wine, or any ardent or other intoxicating liquor of any kind whatsoever, or any essence, extract, bitters, preparation, compound, composition, or any article whatsoever ... which produces intoxication, to any Indian ... shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than sixty days, and by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars."
The Heff decision
In 1905 the US Supreme Court overturned the 1904 conviction in Kansas of Albert Heff, who was convicted of selling two quarts of beer to an Indian, and was fined $200 and sentenced to four months in jail.[197 U.S. 488 - In the Matter of the Application of Albert Heff for a Writ of Habeas Corpus](_blank)
/ref> The Supreme Court ruled that a Native American granted citizenship through the 1887 Dawes Act
The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887) regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the Pre ...
is immediately a citizen of the US and his state, and that the 1897 amendment to the Federal Indian Appropriations Act
The Indian Appropriations Act is the name of several acts passed by the United States Congress. A considerable number of acts were passed under the same name throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, but the most notable landmark acts cons ...
which banned the sale of alcohol to Indians, would not apply, as "regulation of liquor was a state police power and not subject to federal legislation." The result was an immediate increase in the sale and consumption of alcohol in Native American communities. Lewis St. John, writing about the tribes of Washington State, says: The year following the Heff decision saw an increase of the liquor traffic among the Indians of Puget Sound
Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...
undreamed-of before. It spelled almost absolute ruin and prostration for the Puyallup Indians
The Puyallup, Spuyalpabš or S’Puyalupubsh (pronounced: Spoy-all-up-obsh) ('generous and welcoming behavior to all people, who enter our lands') are a federally recognized Coast Salish Native American tribe from western Washington state, Uni ...
. Other agencies report a similar striking increase in the amount of drunkenness, crime, and death and a marked lowering of moral standards and civilization.[Lewis H. St. John, "The Present Status and Probable Future of the Indians of Puget Sound," ''Washington Historical Quarterly'', 1914, Vol. 5, No. 1, p. 12–21](_blank)
/ref>
Congress attempted to remedy this situation by passing the Burke Act
The Burke Act (1906), formally known as the General Allotment Act Amendment of 1906 and also called the Forced Fee Patenting Act, amended the Dawes Act of 1887 under which the communal land held by tribes on the Indian reservations was broken up ...
in 1906, and in 1916 the Supreme Court overruled the Heff decision in ''United States v. Nice
''United States v. Nice'', 241 U.S. 591 (1916), is a United States Supreme Court decision which declared that United States Congress, Congress still retains plenary power to protect Native Americans in the United States, Native American interests ...
'' (241 U.S. 591), which declared that Congress still retains plenary power
A plenary power or plenary authority is a complete and absolute power to take action on a particular issue, with no limitations. It is derived from the Latin term ''plenus'' ("full").
United States
In United States constitutional law, plenary p ...
to protect Native American interests when Native Americans are granted citizenship.
Repeal of discriminatory legislation
By this time, the Temperance movement in the United States
The Temperance movement in the United States is a movement to curb the consumption of alcohol. It had a large influence on American politics and American society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, culminating in the prohibition of alcoho ...
had gained widespread support and National Prohibition
In the United States from 1920 to 1933, a nationwide constitutional law prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtailed by a succession of state legislatures, and ...
was enacted in 1919 with the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment. In 1924 all Native Americans living in the United States became US citizens by passage of the Indian Citizenship Act
The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, (, enacted June 2, 1924) was an Act of the United States Congress that granted US citizenship to the indigenous peoples of the United States. While the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ...
, but even after Prohibition was ended in 1933 with the Twenty-First Amendment alcohol was still illegal on Indian reservations. In 1945 the Commissioner of Indian Affairs reported: Indians feel that the prohibition, which singles them out as a racial group, is discriminating and brands them as inferior. Veterans of World War II, who were able to obtain liquor with no difficulty while in the armed forces, have made many protests against the existence of the law. Various Indian tribes passed resolutions urging that sale of liquor be permitted to Indians off the reservations."
During the next seven years Congress engaged in a heated debate over the dangers and benefits of repealing the "Indian liquor laws." An attempt to repeal laws in Wisconsin and Minnesota was defeated, but in 1953 a law to repeal the laws in Arizona was amended to include all Indian country within the US. The record noted:
The Indians for many years have complained that the liquor laws are most discriminatory in nature. ... Inasmuch as Indians are expected to assume the responsibilities of citizenship and serve in the Armed Forces on an equal basis with other Americans, the committee sees no reason for continuing legislation that is applicable only to Indians.
Within a few years, most tribes passed their own prohibition laws, but they were adopted by Indians for Indians, not imposed on them by the federal government. Interestingly, discriminatory liquor legislation was never passed in Hawaii, where alcohol laws applied both to Native islanders and whites. In Alaska, liquor sales have been regulated by individual communities since 1986 as long as they conform to state laws.
It is now largely recognized that prohibition has been unsuccessful. As of 2007, 63 percent of the federally recognized tribes in the lower 48 states had legalized alcohol sales on their reservations.[James N. Hughes III, "Pine Ridge, Whiteclay and Indian Liquor Law"](_blank)
, Federal Indian Law Seminar, December 2010, p. 7, University of Nebraska College of Law Tribes decided to retain revenues that previously would go to state governments through retail sales taxes
A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a gover ...
on beer, wine and liquor. Legalizing sales enables the tribes to keep more money within their reservation economies and support new businesses and services, as well as to directly regulate, police and control alcohol sales. The retained revenues also provide funds for health care services and facilities to treat alcohol use disorder. In some cases, legalization of alcohol sales has also supported the development of resorts and casinos Casinos may refer to:
* Casinos, Valencia, municipality in Spain
* David Casinos (born 1972), Spanish Paralympian athlete
* The Casinos, an American popular music group
See also
*Casino (disambiguation)
A casino is a facility that houses and accom ...
, to generate revenues for other economic enterprises.
Native American temperance activists
A number of prominent Native Americans protested against the social and cultural damage inflicted by alcohol on indigenous communities, and encouraged others to avoid drinking. Initially, activists such as Peter Chartier
Peter Chartier (16901759) (Anglicized version of Pierre Chartier, sometimes written Chartiere, Chartiers, Shartee or Shortive) was a fur trader of mixed Shawnee and French parentage. Multilingual, he later became a leader and a band chief among ...
, King Hagler
King Hagler (also spelled Haiglar) or Nopkehee (c. 1700–1763) was a chief of the Catawba Native American tribe from 1754 to 1763. Hagler is known as the "Patron Saint of Camden, South Carolina." He was the first Native American to be indu ...
and Little Turtle
Little Turtle ( mia, Mihšihkinaahkwa) (1747 July 14, 1812) was a Sagamore (chief) of the Miami people, who became one of the most famous Native American military leaders. Historian Wiley Sword calls him "perhaps the most capable Indian leader ...
resisted the use of rum and brandy as trade item
A trade item is an item that is the subject of trade. It is a term used primarily by people in supply chain management and logistic engineering. An often used term in Journals of Lewis and Clark.
See also
*Goods
In economics, goods are i ...
s, in an effort to protect Native Americans from cultural changes they viewed as destructive. Later activists (William Apess 300px, Autobiography of William Apess
William Apess (1798–1839, Pequot) (also known as William Apes before 1837), was an ordained Methodist minister, writer, and activist of mixed-race descent, who was a political and religious leader in Massach ...
and Samson Occom
Samson Occom (1723 – July 14, 1792; also misspelled as Occum and Alcom) was a member of the Mohegan nation, from near New London, Connecticut, who became a Presbyterian cleric. Occom was the second Native American to publish his writings in Eng ...
) framed temperance in terms of Christianity, conforming to a broader temperance movement in the United States
The Temperance movement in the United States is a movement to curb the consumption of alcohol. It had a large influence on American politics and American society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, culminating in the prohibition of alcoho ...
. Others such as Neolin
Neolin (meaning ''the enlightened'' in Algonquian) was a prophet of the Lenni Lenape (also known as ''Delaware'') from the village of Muskingum in Ohio. His dates of birth and death are unknown.
Inspired by a religious vision in 1761, Neolin p ...
, Kennekuk
Keannekeuk (c. 1790–1852), also known as the "Kickapoo Prophet", was a Kickapoo medicine man and spiritual leader of the Vermilion band of the Kickapoo nation. He lived in East Central Illinois much of his life along the Vermilion River. One s ...
, Handsome Lake
Handsome Lake ( Cayuga language: Sganyadái:yo, Seneca language: Sganyodaiyo) (Θkanyatararí•yau• in Tuscarora) (1735 – 10 August 1815) was a Seneca religious leader of the Iroquois people. He was a half-brother to Cornplanter, a Seneca ...
, Quanah Parker
Quanah Parker (Comanche ''kwana'', "smell, odor") ( – February 23, 1911) was a war leader of the Kwahadi ("Antelope") band of the Comanche Nation. He was likely born into the Nokoni ("Wanderers") band of Tabby-nocca and grew up among the Kwah ...
, and Wovoka
Wovoka (c. 1856 - September 20, 1932), also known as Jack Wilson, was the Paiute religious leader who founded a second episode of the Ghost Dance movement. Wovoka means "cutter" or "wood cutter" in the Northern Paiute language.
Biography
Wovo ...
led to restore Native American dignity by reverting to traditional customs and ceremonies. Tenskwatawa
Tenskwatawa (also called Tenskatawa, Tenskwatawah, Tensquatawa or Lalawethika) (January 1775 – November 1836) was a Native American religious and political leader of the Shawnee tribe, known as the Prophet or the Shawnee Prophet. He was a ...
, Yonaguska
Yonaguska, (1759–1839), who was known as Drowning Bear (the English meaning of his name), was a leader among the Cherokee of the Lower Towns of North Carolina.
During the Indian Removal of the late 1830s, he was the only chief who remained in ...
, and George Copway sought to achieve this by establishing alcohol-free communities. Religious movements such as the Indian Shaker Church
The Indian Shaker Church is a Christian denomination founded in 1881 by Squaxin shaman John Slocum and his wife Mary Slocum in Washington state. The Indian Shaker Church is a unique blend of Indigenous, Catholic, and Protestant beliefs and pract ...
and the Native American Church
The Native American Church (NAC), also known as Peyotism and Peyote Religion, is a Native American religion that teaches a combination of traditional Native American beliefs and Christianity, with sacramental use of the entheogen peyote. The re ...
combined tradition with Christianity to attract a wider following. Modern-day addiction specialists like Don Coyhis integrate the psychology of substance use disorder treatment with traditional rituals and symbolism and with community rehabilitation to reduce stressors and help recovering alcoholics maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Patterns
The 2012–2013 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions III (NESARC-III) found that 19.2% of Native Americans surveyed had had an alcohol use disorder
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...
during the previous twelve months, and 43.4% had had an alcohol use disorder at some time during their lives (compared to 14.0% and 32.6% of whites, respectively). This contrasts sharply with the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, often abbreviated NSDUH, is an annual nationwide survey on the use of legal and illegal drugs, as well as mental disorders, that has been conducted by the United States federal government since 1971. ...
and National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services, which surveyed adolescents and adults receiving treatment and found that 9.7% of Native Americans surveyed had had an alcohol use disorder during the previous twelve months (compared to 6.1% of whites). An analysis of surveys conducted between 2002 and 2016 determined that 34.4% of Native American adults used alcohol in 2016 (down from 44.7% in 2002), 21.6% engaged in binge drinking and 7.6% described their alcohol use as "heavy."
Gender differences
In her classic study on alcohol use among the Lakota Sioux,[Beatrice Medicine, ''Drinking and sobriety among the Lakota Sioux'', Volume 20 of Contemporary Native American communities. Altamira Press, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2007.](_blank)
anthropologist Beatrice Medicine
Beatrice Medicine (August 1, 1923 - December 19, 2005) (Sihasapa and Minneconjou Lakota) ( Lakota name Hinsha Waste Agli Win – "Returns Victorious with a Red Horse Woman") was a scholar, anthropologist, and educator known for her work in the fiel ...
found that as Native Americans were crowded onto reservations, men lost their traditional social role as providers and started drinking to alleviate their feelings of powerlessness. She observed that Lakota women abstain from alcohol more frequently than men, or quit drinking once they bear children, due to strong cultural values associated with responsible motherhood. In many families women become caretakers, assisting alcoholic men when they are sick or in legal trouble. Within Lakota society there are few social controls on alcohol misuse, nor is there pressure to stay sober. Drunken behavior is excusable, and the family does not ostracize people with an alcohol use disorder but often provides them with shelter and food. She notes that there is constant peer pressure among men to join others in drinking as a social activity. Quitting alcohol then becomes a personal endeavor that requires substantial will power, introspection and sacrifice. Modern therapies attempt to connect treatment to traditional rituals emphasizing the individual's search for spiritual strength and guidance, such as the sun dance
The Sun Dance is a ceremony practiced by some Native Americans in the United States and Indigenous peoples in Canada, primarily those of the Plains cultures. It usually involves the community gathering together to pray for healing. Individuals ...
or vision quest
A vision quest is a rite of passage in some Native American cultures. It is usually only undertaken by young males entering adulthood.
Individual Indigenous cultures have their own names for their rites of passage. "Vision quest" is an English ...
.
A 2002 study looked at alcohol dependence and treatment in 172 Native American and Alaskan Native women who were in treatment at nine substance use disorder treatment centers in the west, southwest, northern plains, the midwestern US and Alaska. As part of the study, participants' records were examined to confirm self-reported information. Fifty-two staff members employed at the treatment centers were also interviewed. Among the participants, 81% had been emotionally, physically and/or sexually abused as children and 78% had been abused as adults. Over half had been abandoned by one or both parents, raised by relatives, sent to a boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
, or had run away from home as a child. Seventy-two percent had been arrested at least once for an alcohol-related reason. The mean age of first alcohol use was 14, with some participants reporting first use as young as age 6. Many of the participants had been introduced to alcohol by a parent or an older sibling. Close to 100% of the study participants described using alcohol to suppress grief, self-pity and loneliness. Most of the women said that the death of a close family member, a divorce, or the end of an important relationship motivated them to drink regularly and heavily. Seventy-three percent reported drinking during pregnancy.
The leading obstacles preventing women from starting treatment were lack of child care and lack of affordable transportation. This was especially true for women living in isolated rural areas, but also pertained to women in cities with inadequate public transportation
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
systems. Women also had to contend with resistance from partners who did not want them to start treatment. Many women cited confidentiality
Confidentiality involves a set of rules or a promise usually executed through confidentiality agreements that limits the access or places restrictions on certain types of information.
Legal confidentiality
By law, lawyers are often required ...
concerns as a reason for delaying treatment.
A primary motivation for Native American women to enter and complete treatment included maintaining or regaining custody of their children. Forty percent entered treatment due to a court order
A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out o ...
to avoid incarceration because of repeated criminal offenses such as driving while intoxicated
Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...
. Twenty percent of participants were referred by a medical professional, sometimes because of pregnancy, with pressure or encouragement from family or friends as an important secondary motivation.
Tribal differences
There is considerable variation in the level of alcohol use and patterns of intake between tribes. This may be related to differing social tolerance of aberrant behavior when intoxicated, and certainly the socioeconomic conditions of different Native American communities play a role in alcohol misuse. Although drinking behavior has increased exponentially since colonization, since 1975 alcohol use patterns among Native Americans have remained constant. A 2003 study found that lifetime rates of alcohol dependence varied from 21 to 56 percent for men and 17 to 30 percent for women across seven geographically diverse American Indian tribes.
Beals et al. compared 1446 Native Americans living on a Southwest reservation with 1638 residents of a Northern Plains reservation, and examined their characteristics in relation to the US National Comorbidity Survey The National Comorbidity Survey: Baseline (NCS-1) was the first large-scale field survey of mental health in the United States. Conducted from 1990–1992, disorders were assessed based on the diagnostic criteria of the then-most current DSM manual ...
(NCS) conducted in 1990–1992. They found that alcohol dependence was more common in the Northern Plains sample (13.0%) than in the Southwest sample (12.2%), and both were higher than in the US sample (10.7%). Northern Plains women had a rate of alcohol dependence more than twice that of either US or Southwest women. The authors speculate that "Southwest women, as the carriers of tradition in this matrilineal culture, may have greater ties to their Native ways and thus be at less risk for the development of alcohol use disorders." Of those individuals in the Native American samples who sought professional help for a substance use disorder, 26.3% of the Southwest Indians went to a traditional or spiritual healer as compared to only 17.4% of those in Northern Plains sample.
Phillip A. May's in-depth examination of the epidemiology of alcohol use disorder and alcohol dependence among Native Americans (1994) found that tribes with a higher level of traditional social integration and less pressure to modernize had fewer alcohol-related problems. Tribes in which social interactions and family structure were disrupted by modernization and acculturative stress (i.e., young people leaving the community to find work) had higher rates of alcohol use and misuse. Native Americans living in urban areas have higher rates of alcohol use than those living in rural areas or on reservations, and more Native Americans living on reservations (where cultural cohesion tends to be stronger) abstain altogether from alcohol. May draws parallels to other societies affected by cultural change. Alaska Natives who follow a more traditional lifestyle have reported greater happiness and less frequent alcohol use for coping with stress.
Studies on drinking behavior among the Navajo
The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States.
With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...
and White Mountain Apache
The Fort Apache Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation on the border of New Mexico and Arizona, United States, encompassing parts of Navajo, Gila, and Apache counties. It is home to the federally recognized White Mountain Apache Tribe of th ...
suggest that binge drinking occurs more commonly in communities that are more culturally distinct from white mainstream culture, as measured by education level, employment, and engagement in religious activities, and that alcohol is typically consumed intensively in intermittent, public social gatherings that attract the attention of law enforcement. The visibility of this behavior may have contributed to beliefs that alcoholism is a serious problem in these communities, although contemporaneous studies also show that alcohol use among the Hopi
The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the Unite ...
leads to higher rates of alcoholic cirrhosis. The Hopi tend to drink in the privacy of their homes, on a daily basis, and many people report drinking alone. A comparison of the Navajo drinking patterns in 1969 with patterns of the same individuals in 1994 showed a transition towards solitary, daily drinking, although many Navajos quit drinking as they reached middle age, citing health concerns and religious beliefs.
Underage drinking
Surveys have shown that Native American youth are more likely to start drinking at a younger age, more likely to drink heavily, and more likely to suffer negative consequences of drinking than their non-Native counterparts. Among Native American adolescents, alcohol and drug use are statistically associated with living on a reservation, dropping out of school, legal problems, antisocial behavior, and socializing with alcohol-using peers. A 2012 study by researchers at Colorado State University
Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...
surveyed 1399 students in 33 schools in 11 US states and found that 52.8% of all Native American 8th-graders and 67.5% of all Native American 12th-graders had experimented with alcohol, compared with 13.8% and 41.1% of non-Native students in the same schools. Researchers have seen higher rates of academic failure, delinquency, violent criminal behavior, suicidality, and alcohol-related mortality among Native American youth than in the rest of the United States population.
Psychosocial stressors play a significant role in alcohol use among Native adolescents. Of 89 Native American adolescents admitted to a residential substance use treatment facility, only 25.3% came from a family with both biological parents present; 73% had been victims of physical or sexual abuse, 22.9% were not in school prior to their admission to this program, and 32.3% were referred by a judge or a court.
Native American youth become socialized into the culture of alcohol at an early age, and this pattern of testing alcohol limits persists until early adulthood. Approximately 20 percent of Native American youth between 7th and 12th grade belong in this category. Other youth exhibit an experimental pattern of drinking through adolescence and this is noted as one of the biggest identifiers of binge drinking later in life.
Binge drinking
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), as part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, supports and conducts biomedical and behavioural research on the causes, consequences, treatment, and prevention of alcoholism
...
, or NIAAA, defines binge drinking
Binge drinking, or heavy episodic drinking, is drinking alcoholic beverages with an intention of becoming intoxicated by heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time, but definitions ( see below) vary considerably.
Binge drinking ...
as a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration
Blood alcohol content (BAC), also called blood alcohol concentration or blood alcohol level, is a measurement of alcohol intoxication used for legal or medical purposes; it is expressed as mass of alcohol per volume or mass of blood. For exampl ...
(BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dL. This typically occurs after 4 drinks for women and 5 drinks for men, in about 2 hours. However, as Silk-Walker et al. point out, Native American drinking often does not conform to standard measurements as, for example, when a group shares one or more bottles. Binge drinking has less impact on health if enough time elapses between binges, however binge drinkers have a higher risk of death by accident, violence or alcohol poisoning as they are less accustomed to intoxication.
Anastasia M. Shkilnyk conducted an observational study
In fields such as epidemiology, social sciences, psychology and statistics, an observational study draws inferences from a sample (statistics), sample to a statistical population, population where the dependent and independent variables, independ ...
of the Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation
Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation (also known as Grassy Narrows First Nation or the ''Asabiinyashkosiwagong Nitam-Anishinaabeg'' in the Ojibwe language) is an Ojibwe First Nations band government who inhabit northern Kenora in Ontario, Canada ...
of Northwestern Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
in the late 1970s, when they were demoralized by Ontario Minamata disease
Ontario Minamata disease is a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning. It occurred in the Canadian province of Ontario, in 1970, and severely affected two First Nation communities in Northwestern Ontario following consumption of l ...
, and observed that heavy Native American drinkers may not be physiologically dependent on alcohol, but they misuse it by engaging in binge drinking
Binge drinking, or heavy episodic drinking, is drinking alcoholic beverages with an intention of becoming intoxicated by heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time, but definitions ( see below) vary considerably.
Binge drinking ...
, a practice associated with child neglect, violence, and impoverishment.
Philip May (1996) found that the recreational drinking pattern of sporadic bingeing persists among many Native American drinkers throughout the early years that they drink, but that males often reach a turning point in their 30s and 40s when they quit drinking completely, for health reasons (42%), because they had joined the Native American Church
The Native American Church (NAC), also known as Peyotism and Peyote Religion, is a Native American religion that teaches a combination of traditional Native American beliefs and Christianity, with sacramental use of the entheogen peyote. The re ...
(20%), because their responsibilities forced them to quit (18%), because they found drinking unrewarding (9%), or because they had joined an established Protestant church (4%).
A 2006 study found that 29.6% of Native Americans reported regular binge drinking as compared to 25.9% of whites, 25.6% of Hispanics and 21.4% of African-Americans. The 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health and National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services, which surveyed adolescents and adults receiving treatment, found that 3.0% of Native Americans aged 12 to 17 reported binge drinking during the previous twelve months (compared to 6.6% of whites). Nonetheless, the overall rates of binge drinking appear to fluctuate: A National Center for Health Statistics
The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is a U.S. government agency that provides statistical information to guide actions and policies to improve the public health of the American people. It is a unit of the Centers for Disease Control ...
survey showed 32.8% of Native Americans over age 12 reporting binge drinking in 2005, which fell to 18.2% in 2011 and rose to 22.7% in 2016.
At least one recent study refutes the belief that Native Americans binge drink more than white Americans. Data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from 2009 to 2013 showed that Native Americans compared to whites had lower or comparable rates of binge drinking. The survey included responses from 171,858 whites compared to 4,201 Native Americans. Native American and white binge drinking (defined as 5+ drinks on an occasion 1–4 days during the past month) estimates were similar: 17.3% and 16.7%, respectively.
Contributing factors
Genetic predisposition to alcoholism
The incidence of alcohol use disorder varies with gender, age, and tribal culture and history. While little detailed genetic research has been done, it has been shown that alcoholism tends to run in families with possible involvement of differences in alcohol metabolism and the genotype
The genotype of an organism is its complete set of genetic material. Genotype can also be used to refer to the alleles or variants an individual carries in a particular gene or genetic location. The number of alleles an individual can have in a ...
of the alcohol-metabolizing enzymes alcohol dehydrogenase
Alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH) () are a group of dehydrogenase enzymes that occur in many organisms and facilitate the interconversion between alcohols and aldehydes or ketones with the reduction of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) to N ...
and aldehyde dehydrogenase
Aldehyde dehydrogenases () are a group of enzymes that catalyse the oxidation of aldehydes. They convert aldehydes (R–C(=O)) to carboxylic acids (R–C(=O)). The oxygen comes from a water molecule. To date, nineteen ALDH genes have b ...
. Evidence that these genetic factors are more prevalent in Native Americans than other ethnic groups has been a subject of debate. According to one 2013 review of academic literature on the issue, there is a "substantial genetic component in Native Americans" and "most Native Americans lack protective variants seen in other populations." Another review of genetic studies from 2017 noted that few genetic studies of alcoholism in Native Americans had been done due to many Native American tribes' mistrust of scientists but stated that, in what few studies had been done, "the results are largely similar to findings in European-ancestry individuals indicating that merican Indians and Alaska Nativesdo not have increased genetic risk for" alcoholism. Many scientists have provided evidence of the genetic component of alcoholism by the biopsychosocial model of alcoholism, but the molecular genetics
Molecular genetics is a sub-field of biology that addresses how differences in the structures or expression of DNA molecules manifests as variation among organisms. Molecular genetics often applies an "investigative approach" to determine the ...
research currently has not found one specific gene that is responsible for the rates of alcoholism among Native Americans, implying the phenomenon may be due to an interplay of multiple genes and environmental factors. Research on alcoholism in family systems
Alcoholism in family systems refers to the conditions in families that enable alcoholism and the effects of alcoholic behavior by one or more family members on the rest of the family. Mental health professionals are increasingly considering alcoho ...
suggests that learned behavior augments genetic factors in increasing the probability that children of alcoholics will themselves have problems with alcohol.
Firewater myths
After European contact, white drunkenness was often interpreted by other whites as the misbehavior of an individual. Native drunkenness was interpreted in terms of the inferiority of a race. What emerged was a set of beliefs known as firewater myths that misrepresented the history, nature, sources and potential solutions to Native alcohol problems. These myths claim that:
* American Indians have an inborn, insatiable appetite for alcohol.
* American Indians are hypersensitive to alcohol (cannot "hold their liquor").
*American Indians are inordinately vulnerable to addiction to alcohol.
* American Indians are inordinately prone to violence when intoxicated.
* These very traits produced immediate, devastating effects when alcohol was introduced to Native tribes via European contact.
* The solutions to alcohol problems in Native communities lie in resources outside these communities.
Don Coyhis and William L. White argue that these "firewater myths" portrayed Native Americans as genetically inferior (inherently vulnerable to alcoholism) thus providing ideological support for the decimation and colonization of Native tribes, and that they continue to serve that function today. The scientific literature has refuted the claims to many of these myths by documenting the wide variability of alcohol problems across and within Native tribes and the very different response that certain individuals have to alcohol as opposed to others. Research has not identified any genetic or biological anomalies that render Native peoples particularly vulnerable to alcoholism.
Belief in the firewater myths is prevalent among Native American youth and many adults, and often leads to greater frequency and intensity of alcohol use. Such beliefs can also prevent young people from seeking treatment for alcoholism due to a lack of confidence in their own ability to recover.
Historical trauma response
Historical trauma
Historical trauma (HT), as used by psychotherapists social workers, historians, and psychologists, refers to the cumulative emotional harm of an individual or generation caused by a traumatic experience or event. Historical Trauma Response (HTR) ...
is psychological trauma
Psychological trauma, mental trauma or psychotrauma is an emotional response to a distressing event or series of events, such as accidents, rape, or natural disasters. Reactions such as psychological shock and psychological denial are typical. ...
resulting from physically and emotionally harmful or threatening experiences shared by a group over the lifespan and across generations. Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart
Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart is a Native American social worker, associate professor and mental health expert. She is best known for developing a model of historical trauma for the Lakota people, which would eventually be expanded to encompass ...
has argued that historical trauma plays a significant role in motivating substance misuse as a pathological coping strategy
Coping refers to conscious strategies used to reduce unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviours and can be individual or social.
Theories of coping
Hundreds of coping strategies have been proposed in an attempt to ...
to deal with "low self-esteem, loss of cultural identity
Cultural identity is a part of a person's identity, or their self-conception and self-perception, and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any kind of social group that has its own distinct cultur ...
, lack of positive role model
A role model is a person whose behaviour, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people. The term ''role model'' is credited to sociologist Robert K. Merton, who hypothesized that individuals compare themselves ...
s, history of abuse and neglect, self-medication
Self-medication is a human behavior in which an individual uses a substance or any exogenous influence to self-administer treatment for physical or psychological conditions: for example headaches or fatigue.
The substances most widely used in se ...
due to feelings of hopelessness, and loss of family and tribal connections." Brave Heart has argued that there is a significant correlation between alcohol misuse, depression and suicide and the emotional responses to historical trauma such as disenfranchised grief
Disenfranchised grief is a term coined by Dr. Kenneth J. Doka in 1989.This concept describes the fact that grief isn’t acknowledged on a personal or societal level in modern day Euro-centric culture. For example, those around you may not view you ...
and internalized oppression
In social justice theory, internalized oppression is a concept in which an oppressed group accepts the methods and incorporates the oppressive message of the oppressing group against their own best interest. Rosenwasser (2002) defines it as believi ...
. Other research has also found that historical trauma is associated with substance use problems in Native American communities, and that treating this trauma in tandem with alcohol use disorder is more effective than substance use treatment without supplemental treatment of historical trauma.
Traumatic experiences and PTSD
Several studies have found higher-than-average rates of PTSD
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...
among Native Americans. At least one study found the prevalence of PTSD was as high as 21.9%. This rate is comparable to rates for groups experiencing severe and extreme events, such as mass shootings, major burns, and combat. Statistically, the incidence of alcohol misuse among survivors of trauma is significantly elevated, and survivors of physical, emotional and sexual abuse in childhood have among the highest rates of alcohol misuse.
Consequences of alcohol misuse
Violence
Several studies indicate that Native Americans are at greater risk for alcohol-related domestic violence
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...
, rape, and assault compared with other U.S. ethnic groups. Alcohol and drug use is associated with higher rates of domestic violence among Native Americans compared to many other demographics. Over two-thirds (68%) of Native American and Native Alaskan sexual assault victims attribute their attacker's actions to drinking and/or taking drugs before the offense.
Certain risk factors have a high correlation with levels of domestic violence, including the offender and victim both being under the age of 40, presence of a substance use disorder, receiving public assistance
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
, and the offender and/or the victim witnessing domestic violence between their parents as a child. For Native American abuse victims, the health care setting offers a critical opportunity for early identification and even primary prevention of abuse.
Alcohol consumption among Native Americans has also been linked to targeted hate crimes, such as Indian rolling, the Anchorage paintball attacks
The Anchorage paintball attacks of January 14, 2001 were a series of pre-meditated and racially motivated drive-by shootings targeted at Alaska Natives in downtown Anchorage that night. These attacks, described by the news media and by Alaska legi ...
, the Saskatoon freezing deaths
The Saskatoon freezing deaths were a series of suspicious deaths of Indigenous Canadians in and immediately outside of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in the 1990s and early 2000s, which were confirmed to have been caused by members of the Saskatoon P ...
, and cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) is an epidemic of violence against Indigenous women in Canada, the United States, and Latin America; notably those in the FNIM (First Nations, Inuit, Métis) and Native American communities. Acros ...
.
Disease and death
Compared with the United States population in general, the Native American population is much more susceptible to alcoholism and related diseases and deaths. From 2006 to 2010, alcohol-attributed deaths accounted for 11.7 percent of all Native American deaths, more than twice the rates of the general U.S. population. The median alcohol-attributed death rate for Native Americans (60.6 per 100,000) was twice as high as the rate for any other racial or ethnic group. Males are affected disproportionately more by alcohol-related conditions than females. The highest risk of alcohol-related deaths is between 45 and 64 years of age. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue repai ...
are 3.9 times as prevalent in the Native American population than the general US population. Of all alcohol-attributable deaths, motor vehicle accidents account for 27.5% and alcoholic liver disease
Alcoholic liver disease (ALD), also called alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD), is a term that encompasses the liver manifestations of alcohol overconsumption, including fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and chronic hepatitis with liver fibrosis ...
accounts for 25.2%. Alcohol-related fatal car accidents are three times more prevalent among Native Americans than in other ethnicities.
Alcohol was shown to be a factor in 69% of all suicides of Native Americans between 1980 and 1998. From 2003 to 2014, Native American suicide rates in the 18 states participating in the National Violent Death Reporting System The National Violent Death Reporting System (abbreviated NVDRS) is an active surveillance system initiated by the Centers for Disease Control for collecting data regarding violent deaths in the United States. It does not collect any of its own data, ...
were 21.5 per 100,000, more than 3.5 times higher than among other ethnicities in the US. Compared with whites, successful Native American suicides had 2.1 times the odds of a positive alcohol toxicology result and 1.8 times the odds of having had a reported alcohol abuse problem prior to suicide.
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
Native Americans have one of the highest rates of fetal alcohol syndrome recorded for any specific racial or ethnic subgroup in the US. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...
, from 1981 to 1991, the prevalence of FAS in the overall U.S. population per 10,000 births was 2.1. Among Native Americans, that number was 31.0. A CDC survey conducted from 2015 to 2017 found that 18.1% of Native American women drink during pregnancy (compared to 8.6% of Hispanic and 10.7% of white women) and that 5.1% engage in binge drinking. The significant difference between the FAS rates of the U.S. population and Native Americans has been attributed to a lack of healthcare, high poverty levels, and a young average population. Healthcare spending for an average American on Medicare is about $11,762 whereas average spending on healthcare for a Native American is $2,782. In a 2007 document, "Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders among Native Americans," the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that the prevalence of fetal alcohol syndrome in Alaska was 1.5 per 1,000 live births but, among American Indians and Alaska Natives, the rate was 5.6. The rate of FAS among different tribal groups varies widely. Among the Navajo
The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States.
With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...
and Pueblo
In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...
tribes, the rate of FAS is more similar to the overall rate for the United States, while among the Southwest Plains Native Americans there is a much higher rate of one per every 102 live births.
Protective dietary practices
Dietary practices in Mesoamerica differ from those of Native North American peoples, and some foods commonly consumed in Latin America may prevent some of the effects of chronic alcohol misuse. High concentrations of thiamine
Thiamine, also known as thiamin and vitamin B1, is a vitamin, an essential micronutrient, that cannot be made in the body. It is found in food and commercially synthesized to be a dietary supplement or medication. Phosphorylated forms of thi ...
found in beans
A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...
may prevent alcohol-induced Beri-beri
Thiamine deficiency is a medical condition of low levels of thiamine (Vitamin B1). A severe and chronic form is known as beriberi. The two main types in adults are wet beriberi and dry beriberi. Wet beriberi affects the cardiovascular system, r ...
. Soaking maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
in alkaline
In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a base (chemistry), basic, ionic compound, ionic salt (chemistry), salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as ...
" limewater," as in the traditional preparation of corn tortillas
In North America, a corn tortilla or just tortilla (, ) is a type of thin, unleavened flatbread, made from hominy, that is the whole kernels of maize treated with alkali to improve their nutrition in a process called nixtamalization. A simple ...
, frees niacin
Niacin, also known as nicotinic acid, is an organic compound and a form of vitamin B3, an essential human nutrient. It can be manufactured by plants and animals from the amino acid tryptophan. Niacin is obtained in the diet from a variet ...
and folate
Folate, also known as vitamin B9 and folacin, is one of the B vitamins. Manufactured folic acid, which is converted into folate by the body, is used as a dietary supplement and in food fortification as it is more stable during processing and ...
for human biological use, (a process known as Nixtamalization
Nixtamalization () is a process for the preparation of corn, or other grain, in which the grain is soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution, usually limewater (but sometimes aqueous alkali metal carbonates), washed, and then hulled. The ter ...
) thus preventing alcohol-induced pellagra
Pellagra is a disease caused by a lack of the vitamin niacin (vitamin B3). Symptoms include inflamed skin, diarrhea, dementia, and sores in the mouth. Areas of the skin exposed to either sunlight or friction are typically affected first. Over t ...
and macrocytic anemia
The term ''macrocytic'' is from Greek words meaning "large cell". A macrocytic class of anemia is an ''anemia'' (defined as blood with an insufficient concentration of hemoglobin) in which the red blood cells (erythrocytes) are larger than their ...
.
Treatment programs
Treatment models
Treatment for alcohol use disorder
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...
among Native Americans is usually based on one of the five common treatment models:
* the medical model
''Medical model'' is the term coined by psychiatrist R. D. Laing in his ''The Politics of the Family and Other Essays'' (1971), for the "set of procedures in which all doctors are trained". It includes complaint, history, physical examinatio ...
, based on the disease theory of alcoholism
The modern disease theory of alcoholism states that problem drinking is sometimes caused by a disease of the brain, characterized by altered brain structure and function.
The largest association of physicians – the American Medical Associatio ...
, which holds that it can be treated with coerced abstinence Coerced abstinence is a drug rehabilitation strategy which uses frequent monitoring and immediate punishment to reduce drug use among participants. This strategy can dramatically reduce recidivism rates among chronic drug users, especially those ...
and medications in a clinical setting, the general approach of most US treatment facilities.
* the psychosocial
The psychosocial approach looks at individuals in the context of the combined influence that psychological factors and the surrounding social environment have on their physical and mental wellness and their ability to function. This approach is ...
model, which assumes that drinking is a maladaptive response to psychological trauma, social pressures and family dynamics, and that it can be managed 1) by educating the drinker to use other behavior patterns to cope with stress, and 2) by developing strong peer support
Peer support occurs when people provide knowledge, experience, emotional, social or practical help to each other. It commonly refers to an initiative consisting of trained supporters (although it can be provided by peers without training), and can ...
and social support
Social support is the perception and actuality that one is cared for, has assistance available from other people, and most popularly, that one is part of a supportive social network. These supportive resources can be emotional (e.g., nurturance), ...
networks. This is the approach favored by Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...
.
* the assimilative model, in which standard treatments are employed in a Native American setting operated by Native American practitioners.
* the culture-sensitive model, in which Native American counselors facilitate group therapy
Group psychotherapy or group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group. The term can legitimately refer to any form of psychotherapy when delivered in a group format, i ...
sessions with emphasis on Native American cultural and historical themes.
* the syncretic
Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thu ...
model, which has primarily a Native American orientation, including the use of traditional modalities such as the medicine wheel
To some indigenous peoples of North America, the medicine wheel is a metaphor for a variety of spiritual concepts. A medicine wheel may also be a stone monument that illustrates this metaphor.
Historically, most medicine wheels follow the basic ...
, talking circles, the sweat lodge
A sweat lodge is a low profile hut, typically dome-shaped or oblong, and made with natural materials. The structure is the ''lodge'', and the ceremony performed within the structure may be called by some cultures a purification ceremony or simply ...
, and traditional healers. The Red Road
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
is one example of a specifically Native American treatment approach.[Jacob U. Gordon, ''Managing Multiculturalism in Substance Abuse Services''. Sage, 1994](_blank)
Treatment for alcohol dependence
Alcohol dependence is a previous (DSM-IV and ICD-10) psychiatric diagnosis in which an individual is physically or psychologically dependent upon alcohol (also chemically known as ethanol).
In 2013, it was reclassified as alcohol use disorde ...
usually relies on a combination of:
* Alcohol detoxification
Alcohol detoxification (also known as ''detox'') is the abrupt cessation of alcohol intake in individuals that have alcohol dependence. This process is often coupled with substitution of drugs that have effects similar to the effects of alcohol i ...
and medically managed withdrawal from the physical dependence
Physical dependence is a physical condition caused by chronic use of a tolerance-forming drug, in which abrupt or gradual drug withdrawal causes unpleasant physical symptoms. Physical dependence can develop from low-dose therapeutic use of certai ...
induced by chronic alcohol misuse, usually implemented during a brief hospital stay.
* Partial hospitalization
Partial hospitalization, also known as PHP (partial hospitalization program), is a type of program used to treat mental illness and substance abuse. In partial hospitalization, the patient continues to reside at home, but commutes to a treatment ...
where the patient continues to reside at home, but commutes to a treatment center up to seven days a week.
* Residential treatment
A residential treatment center (RTC), sometimes called a rehab, is a live-in health care facility providing therapy for substance use disorders, mental illness, or other behavioral problems. Residential treatment may be considered the "last-di ...
, either long-term (6–12 months) or short-term (3–6 weeks), commonly referred to as rehabilitation
Rehabilitation or Rehab may refer to:
Health
* Rehabilitation (neuropsychology), therapy to regain or improve neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished
* Rehabilitation (wildlife), treatment of injured wildlife so they can be retur ...
.
* Outpatient
A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health care ...
treatment programs, including Intensive outpatient programs (IOPs).
* Individualized counseling
* Group counseling
SAMHSA's Office of Tribal Affairs and Policy
The Office of Tribal Affairs and Policy (OTAP) serves as primary point of contact between the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA; pronounced ) is a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is charged with improving the quality and availability of treatment and rehabilitative services ...
(SAMHSA) and tribal governments, tribal organizations, and federal agencies on behavioral health issues that impact tribal communities. OTAP supports SAMHSA's efforts to implement the Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA) of 2010 and the National Tribal Behavioral Health Agenda. The Office of Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse (OIASA), an organizational component of OTAP, coordinates federal partners and provides tribes with technical assistance and resources to develop and enhance prevention and treatment programs for substance use disorders, including alcohol.
Indian Health Services
The Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program (ASAP) is a program for American Indian and Alaska Native individuals to reduce the incidence and prevalence of alcohol and substance use disorders. These programs are administered in tribal communities, including emergency, inpatient and outpatient treatment and rehabilitation services for individuals covered under Indian Health Services
The Indian Health Service (IHS) is an operating division (OPDIV) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). IHS is responsible for providing direct medical and public health services to members of federally-recognized Nativ ...
. It addresses and treats alcoholism from a Disease model of addiction, disease model perspective.
Tribal Action Plan
The Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1986 was updated in 2010 to make requirements that the Office of Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse (OIASA), a subdivision of SAMHSA, is to work with federal agencies to assist Native American communities in developing a Tribal Action Plan (TAP). The TAP coordinates resources and funding required to help mitigate levels of alcohol and substance use disorders among the Native American population, as specified in th
Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Memorandum of Agreement
of August 2011, and executed by OIASA.
Organizations
National Indian Health Board: Tribal Behavioral Health Agenda
Youth Regional Treatment Centers (YRTC)
funded by the Indian Health Service, provide clinical evaluation, substance use disorder education, psychotherapy, art therapy, adventure-based counseling, life skills, medication management, evidence-based treatment, aftercare relapse prevention, and post-treatment follow-up services.
Native American Connections: Behavioral Health Services
White Bison Recovery Resources
Native American Indian General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous
American Indian Committee on Alcohol and Substance Abuse
as of 2017, was over 4 decades old and was included in the 2-volume Encyclopedia of American Indian Issues Today, published 2013.
* SAMHSA'
Tribal Training and Technical Assistance Center
provides Native American communities with tools for preventing mental illness, substance use disorders and suicide.
* Native American Health Center's focus is the San Francisco Bay Area.
Native American Indian Alcoholics Anonymous
The Wellbriety Movement
is an interconnected web carrying the message of cultural knowledge about recovery for individuals, families, and communities.
One Sky Center
a National Resource Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Health, Education and Research dedicated to quality health care across Indian Country.
Indian Country Child Trauma Center (ICCTC)
develops trauma-related treatment protocols, outreach materials, and service delivery guidelines specifically designed for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children and their families.
First Nations Behavioral Health Association
Society of TRUTH
(Tribal Families, Rural and Urban, Together Healing), a coalition of American Indian/Alaskan Native organizations providing information and resources to support indigenous ways of life, healing and wellness.
The National Council of Urban Indian Health (NCUIH)
a national organization devoted to the support and development of quality, accessible, and culturally-competent health services for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) living in urban settings.
Issues in the treatment of Native Americans
Although Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...
grew out of an explicitly European-American theistic tradition, studies show that some Native Americans prefer treatments that combine tribal practices with traditional AA therapy. Many Native American clients find AA's model objectionable, however, due to the Confession (religion), confessional nature of meetings, the encouragement of a critical attitude towards drinkers, and an emphasis on a Judeo-Christian conceptualization of God. Among the Lakota Sioux and some other Northern Plains tribes, the repetitive identification of oneself as an alcoholic is considered to be a hindrance to recovery. In addition to a preference for treatment oriented towards traditional Native American values and customs, most Native clients prefer tribal-specific practices, rather than a Pan-Indianism, Pan-Native approach. Therapy can be an opportunity for Native Americans to reaffirm their cultural heritage.
Alcohol treatment facilities that cater specifically to Native Americans can be difficult to find outside of rural areas or reservations because Native Americans account for less than 1.7% of the United States population. Coyhis and White make five recommendations in regard to the treatment of Native Americans for alcohol problems:
* In order to create a firm and effective relationship between the treatment agency and the tribal community, counselors and clinicians should understand the cultural and historical context that has provoked alcohol misuse, and be familiar with the organization, histories, values, ceremonies and cultures of Native Americans with whom they work. Counselors should be aware of the enormous diversity in personal experiences, personalities, spiritual beliefs, and acculturation, as well as the differing patterns of alcohol misuse and the multiple treatment modalities available.
* Counselors should take the time to master the Intercultural competence, cultural etiquette appropriate for each client in terms of verbal communication (greetings, humor, establishing rapport) and non-verbal signals (eye contact, Haptic communication, touch, paralanguage, boundaries of personal space). Such etiquette varies between and within tribes.
* Family and community play an essential role in any individual's motivation to stay in recovery. Family members, tribal elders, and Folk healer, traditional healers should be encouraged to participate in designing and delivering treatment. Transgenerational trauma can be a significant factor in young people's substance use disorder patterns.
* Treatment can be made more effective by combining Native and Western healing practices. Group therapy may incorporate ceremonial activities such as the Spirit Dance, the Sun Dance and the Gourd Dance. Treatments should make clear reference to traditional Native values such as patience, generosity, cooperation, and humility, and to teaching metaphors like the medicine wheel
To some indigenous peoples of North America, the medicine wheel is a metaphor for a variety of spiritual concepts. A medicine wheel may also be a stone monument that illustrates this metaphor.
Historically, most medicine wheels follow the basic ...
. Therapeutic activities may make use of symbols including the sacred pipe and eagle feathers, rituals such as the sweat lodge
A sweat lodge is a low profile hut, typically dome-shaped or oblong, and made with natural materials. The structure is the ''lodge'', and the ceremony performed within the structure may be called by some cultures a purification ceremony or simply ...
, drum circles or smudging ceremonies, and to traditional arts like woodcarving, Beadwork#Native American beadwork, beadwork and silversmithing. Mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, Traditional Native legends can be used as a framework for Storytelling#Therapeutic storytelling, therapeutic storytelling.
* Alcohol treatment and recovery services should focus on broader goals related to Native communities rather than limiting themselves to individual therapy. Throughout history, religious and cultural revitalization movements have played a crucial role in mitigating the impact of alcohol on Native communities. Addiction treatment agencies and counselors can become actively involved in communities by emphasizing the connection between personal health and community health, so as to build a culture of abstinence, healthy substitution, or conscientious moderation.
Alcohol education and prevention programs
A variety of substance abuse prevention, substance use disorder prevention efforts, both face-to-face and web-based, have been implemented to build self-esteem and combat alcoholism among Native American and Native Alaskan youth. Researchers have found that standard substance misuse prevention programs are less effective among Native Americans because of the poor understanding of the unique historical and sociopolitical context of each tribe. One program used motivational interviewing with Native American adolescents aged 14 to 18 living in urban communities in California. Focus groups were designed to help participants explore and resolve their ambivalence about drug and alcohol use. A systematic review of programs in which both students and parents participated revealed that restrictive disciplinary measures used by parents often have a counterproductive effect, and that drug and alcohol use by family members was a stronger influence on early use by adolescents than such behavior among non-family peers. The use of a Native American Council circle, Talking Circle Intervention among Cherokee adolescents in an Oklahoma school promoted self-efficacy and reduced substance misuse by 45% over the course of 8.5 weeks.
From January 1994 until May 31, 2002, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded the Healthy Nations Initiative to help Native Americans reduce the demand for and use of alcohol and illegal drugs. Healthy Nations provided funds for public education, substance misuse treatment, post-treatment follow-up, and supporting services for 14 Native American tribes, incorporating traditional Native American cultural values to encourage youth to avoid drinking, drug use and smoking.
Prevention programs have used innovative strategies to promote healthy substitution and alternatives to drinking in Native American communities. With the help of Bernie Whitebear, the Seattle Indian Health Board developed technology-focused youth mentoring projects in partnership with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma actively engaged up to 1,000 members in increasing physical activity and healthy lifestyles, initiating cultural heritage projects and a school-based health promotion curriculum which included alcohol education. Norton Sound Health Corporation, based in Nome, Alaska, instituted a Village-Based Counselor program to provide much-needed behavioral health services to its more remote villages."Generation Indigenous Youth Resiliency Panel Series: How grantees and partners across the Tribal Health System recruit and develop behavioral health staff." Indian Health Service, Division of Behavioral Health, 2017.
/ref> Lechner et al. have analyzed the responses to psychological and historical trauma
Historical trauma (HT), as used by psychotherapists social workers, historians, and psychologists, refers to the cumulative emotional harm of an individual or generation caused by a traumatic experience or event. Historical Trauma Response (HTR) ...
among Native American youth and developed a series of interventions, including life skills development, suicide prevention training, talking circle paradigms, and "Healing the Canoe," a substance abuse prevention program based on promoting a sense of social inclusion, belonging and cultural identity
Cultural identity is a part of a person's identity, or their self-conception and self-perception, and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any kind of social group that has its own distinct cultur ...
.
See also
*Alcohol in New France
*Contemporary Native American issues in the United States
* Indian rolling
*Methamphetamine and Native Americans
*Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Utah
*Modern social statistics of Native Americans
*Native American health
*Navajo reservations and domestic abuse
*New World Syndrome
*Peter Chartier
Peter Chartier (16901759) (Anglicized version of Pierre Chartier, sometimes written Chartiere, Chartiers, Shartee or Shortive) was a fur trader of mixed Shawnee and French parentage. Multilingual, he later became a leader and a band chief among ...
*Reservation poverty
*Whiteclay, Nebraska
Whiteclay (Lakota language, Lakota: ''Makȟásaŋ''; "whiteish or yellowish clay") is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated community and census-designated place in Sheridan County, Nebraska, Sheridan County, Nebraska, United States. The populatio ...
References
Further reading
*
{{Alcohol and health
Alcohol and Native Americans,
Alcohol abuse in the United States
Alcohol in the United States
Alcohol law in the United States
Alcoholic drinks
American Indian reservations
Native American health
Native American history
Native American topics