Alcohol and drug misuse has been observed to be very rampant among the American Indians. This has led to various alcohol-related problems. Studies have shown that American Indians abuse alcohol and drugs more than the general American population.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a wide range of potentially useful strategies to address the prevention of alcohol misuse among American Indians. It explores the historical and geographical perspective of this problem. The European colonists made the biggest influence towards American Indians adopting this kind of lifestyle.
Later, their efforts to regulate and restrict alcohol selling and use failed. Instead, it took root among the communities. It also suggest on how to prevent this problem. It suggests that solutions can only come from the concerned communities and not from external interventions. The best solution will involve the Indian American communities and not the authorities or other external organizations.
Alcohol Misuse among American Indians
Introduction
Before colonization by the Europeans, Native Americans were generally naïve to alcohol and its consequences. Some tribes brewed weak beers but were only used during ceremonies. Distillation of more potent alcohol was not known. Then the colonialists availed too much distilled spirits and wines to the American Indians.
These natives did not have ample time for developing moral, legal and social guidelines for regulating alcohol usage. Early traders then made it the medium of trade, thus establishing a great demand for it. The traders used it to get animal skins among other goods. The traders also discovered that when they provided alcohol in the course of negotiations, they had an outright advantage over the American Indians in the negotiations.
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The colonists often engaged in over-drinking. This gave a strong model to natives who lacked experience. They used it in their social functions. There were numerous bouts of violence during negotiations as well as other activities. This was both among the natives and the colonists. This modeling continued as colonists expanded their territory from East to West. Lumbers, soldiers, miners and trappers soon adopted this lifestyle.
Increased misuse of alcohol and its outcome among the natives is associated with various factors. They include the current socio-cultural factors, the European colonists’ influence.
Many efforts have been made to prevent and treat alcohol abuse among the American Indians. However, these efforts have not achieved much because they have failed to incorporate native approaches and beliefs. Regulation of sale and use of alcohol in natives may also help in preventing alcohol abuse.
The pattern of alcohol misuse
It is not easy to approximate drinking the adult natives. The practice varies greatly from one community to the other depending on the lifestyle, economic and cultural differences between the various communities. It greatly depends on the tribes’ tolerance of deviant behavior leading to differing levels of alcohol use accepted.
More experts attribute the varying rates to various social and economic situations of the natives. Northern tribes have a much higher rate of alcohol misuse than the southern ones. The number of deaths linked to alcohol among the native males was 26.5 per cent while that for females was only 13.2 per cent.
This does not affect the teenagers though. Beauvais (1992) noted a slight difference in prevalence rates between male and female adolescents.
Surveys in schools have shown a total image of alcohol use among native youth. A 1993 survey discovered that 71 per cent of Indian youth between grade 7 and 12 admitted having used alcohol with 55 per cent having experienced a drunken state. About 34 per cent of them admitted that they had been drunk in the last couple of weeks. This was the case even for non-Indians youth in the same grades.
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However, the Indian youth seemed to drink more and experience more negative results from it than their non-Indian counterparts (Oetting et al, 1989).
Drinking among the native youth has shown stability since 1975 compared to the rate of illicit drug use that fluctuates over time. Despite there being tribe-based variations in alcohol use among grown-ups, teenagers have been observed to use it at the same rate irrespective of their tribes. Additionally, raised rates of drinking have been observed among the native youth living on reservation, those attending boarding schools and dropouts (Beauvais et al 1996).
Drug use is more linked to drinking among adolescents than among adults. Almost all drinking adolescents also use drugs. There is a very high likelihood that drinking and drug use among the young people have similar causative factors as well as outcomes. Drug use among the Indian youth is still higher than among their non-Indian counterparts.
Researchers have discovered that American Indians engage in heavy drinking within a very short period and continue with this trend until the supply runs out. This is commonly called binge drinking. Moreover those who drink together share their alcohol. Some of the factors that have caused this are the effects of prohibition and modeling by the colonists. This encouraged quick drinking to avoid being detected, which could lead to the alcohol being confiscated (May, 1995).
Researchers have discovered two patterns of alcohol misuse among the American Indians. They are anxiety drinkers and recreational drinkers. Anxiety drinkers do it heavily resulting to various psychological, social and medical problems.
On the other hand, social users rarely do this kind drinking. But they take very high volumes whenever they drink. When they are sober, social users do very well in other aspects of life. They do not go through alcohol-linked outcomes. Generally, the rate of alcohol misuse is double among men compared to women.
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Nearly twelve per cent of deaths among the American Indians and Alaska Natives are alcohol-related. These causes include liver diseases and car crashes. This is 3.5 times higher than the overall population.
There is no doubt therefore that history planted the seeds for alcohol abuse among these natives. Early demand, lack of regulation and strong encouragement made a big contribution to the drinking tradition. Excessive consumption of alcohol has been a big challenge to this population, which is more often than not impoverished. This is a wake up call for this population, state governments and the national government.
According to US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an average of 1,514 American Indians and Alaska Natives die of alcohol-related causes every year. This was 11.7 per cent of Alaska Natives and American Indians compared to 3.3 per cent for the general US population. Sixty-eight per cent of the deaths occurred among men.
