Native Americans and Alcohol

Native Americans and Alcohol

    By the late 1500s, alcohol was beginning to spread throughout English colonies.  While already a high-demand crop in Europe, the successful English sugar plantations in the Caribbean made alcohol even more widespread with the rising popularity of rum.  While English colonists enjoyed consuming alcohol themselves, they also were happy to trade it to the natives.  The Natives gave them furs for alcohol, and because the alcohol would soon be consumed, colonists enjoyed a growing fur trade as Natives came back for more to drink.  They could also make a 400% profit on alcohol sales.

   It is less simple to understand why Natives were so eager to incorporate this drug into their societies, and no definitive conclusion has been drawn.  One theory is that it was generally regarded as a spiritual practice.  Native culture emphasized transcendent experiences, and so alcohol was regarded as a positive cultural practice.  Additionally, because alcohol suddenly became so widely available, Native American tribes had access to it without societal norms about the consumption of it.  They also hadn't developed any tolerance to the drug, compounding its effects.

   Unfortunately, the alcoholism that plagued Native Americans in colonial times is still a major problem today.   Native American youth and adults on reservations have higher rates of alcohol abuse than any other ethnic group in the country.  Nearly 9.2% are current heavy alcohol users, and many also reported binge drinking in the last 30 days.  With alcoholism comes other problems, notably high rates of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.  Those born with fetal alcohol syndrome often have lifelong problems, which furthers the brokenness of reservation society.  There are also high mortality rates associated with alcohol poisoning, as well as co-occurring mental illnesses.  Problems like domestic violence, sexual assault, and suicide can be partially linked to alcohol in reservation communities.

   It is often difficult to understand why in the present day, alcoholism is still a major issue for Native American tribes on reservations.  One major reason why so many Native Americans have turned to alcohol is due to the traumas that their people have historically suffered.  Along the Trail of Tears (as well as many other instances of forced relocation), tribes and communities were broken apart and lost their senses of communities.  Isolated in an unfamiliar land, many Native Americans turned to alcohol to cope.  Many reservations still feel broken to Natives, who feel disconnected from their cultures.  In the present day, Native Americans are also at economic disadvantages and turn to alcohol to cope.

   Nowadays, many Native Americans feel like they are just a statistic.  Oftentimes, alcoholism is used as a harmful stereotype against Native Americans.  It leads people to think they are incompetent and puts them at a disadvantage in society today.  Additionally, when most non-native Americans today think of Indians, they think of an irresponsible, uncontrollable group, rather than a diverse population who has suffered through horrible tragedies at the hands of the United States.  Rather than embracing and celebrating their rich culture, Americans consistently use their alcohol abuse as a reason to discriminate against them even further.

Works Cited:

http://www.recovery.org/topics/native-americans-alcoholism/
http://blog.nativepartnership.org/alcohol-its-different-for-native-americans/
https://history4508.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/introduction-of-alcohol-to-early-north-american-native-societies/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/05/18/south-dakota-indian-liquor-alcoholism-column/101484586/