Native American Alcoholism

Statistics of the deaths compared to other
ethinicities

For Native Americans, alcoholism is an important and damaging issue throughout their communities.  Nearly 12 percent of the total deaths in Native American communities are attributed to alcoholism.  This is significantly larger compared to the national average of 3.3 percent of deaths related to alcohol.  This includes alcohol induced accidents, liver disease, homicide, and suicide.  There are several different factors that could be contributing to the majority of the alcoholism.  Economic disadvantages in Native American communities could be an important reason for people drinking alcohol.  Native Americans have a high rate of unemployment and a low rate of completion of high school and college.  For example, in the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, the level of those who do not finish high school is 20%, higher than the national average, while the poverty rate is 43%, as opposed to the 15% in the US as a whole.  This poor education and poverty may be contributing to the great use of alcohol for them to cope with their problems.  

Another cause for the large use of alcohol could be due to the history of abuse of the native Americans.  Native american children were “taken from their homes and sent to boarding schools.”(Emily Guarnotta).  At these boarding schools, they were punished severely with physical abuse, as well as emotional and sexual abuse.  This could have lead to trauma for some of the native Americans.  This would then make them turn to alcohol to deal with the pain of the memory.  There is also the loss of the culture of their people.  The native Americans lost land, rights, and their family members which could lead to “historical trauma”(Emily Guarnotta).  This would lead generations of native Americans to pass down the grief they feel which could make them start to drink.  

Map of the Pine Ridge Reservation 

Physical conditions and issues that are more common for native Americans to have could be causing a large portion of the deaths due to alcohol.  Native Americans have a high risk for “diabetes, heart disease, cancer, obesity, liver disease, hepatitis, and stroke”(Emily Guarnotta).  For this reason, in Nebraska the licences of several liquor stores were revoked near the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.  As stated in the USA Today article by Naomi Schaefer Riley, tribal officials made the case that due to the now limited access to alcohol, the abuse of the product would be minimal.(Riley).  Mental disorders may also be cause for the large amount of alcoholism.  Native Americans has a high rate of mental illness and suicide.  The rate of suicide is 2.5 times higher than the national average.  Having mental disorders can cause a large amount of stress for the affected and their family, which could lead to drinking.  

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/06/13/1-in-4-native-americans-and-alaska-natives-are-living-in-poverty/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/02/12/your-assumptions-about-native-americans-and-alcohol-are-wrong/?utm_term=.432362b1bcb8

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26439767/ns/health-addictions/t/native-american-deaths-alcohol-related/#.WiV20lWnGpr

https://www.recovery.org/topics/native-americans-alcoholism/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/05/18/south-dakota-indian-liquor-alcoholism-column/101484586/