From the Opening Chapter
 
 
 
DROWNING ONE'S SORROW: Alcoholism among Indigenous People
From the Opening Chapter
Alcoholism is one of the prime scourges of indigenous people, whether Inuit in the northern arctic regions, Native Americans in the prairies and deserts to the south, Aborigines scattered throughout the continent of Australia or the Maori and other inhabitants of Pacific islands.
For the most part, with only few exceptions, alcohol was unknown before the advent of the Europeans. If anything, their "narcotic needs" were met by drugs which could be smoked or ingested; furthermore they were incorporated, in a more elegant and meaningful manner – as in the case of peyote among the Native Americans – as an essential part of religious ritual. Where drink was involved, the local product, in any case, generally lacked the potency and addictive properties of the more sophisticated western offerings, arising out of an intricate process of distilling, brewing or fermentation.
Alcohol as a means of social control
For reasons still not entirely clear, many in the indigenous population not only succumbed to the attractions of this novel commodity, but often responded in their behavior in a manner, which partly reflected the worst excesses of the Europeans themselves when on a binge, but also partly took on far deeper manifestations. What for Europeans was seen mainly as a transition phase, a momentary recognized and acceptable "breaking out", became for the indigenous people an ongoing phenomenon, pervasive throughout much of the society, with cumulative effects that have remained with them into present times. So intense was their reaction to the intoxicants they were imbibing, that, in some places, reference was made to the drinks they were taking as "fire water" a name with paradoxical connotations in the light of the actual fire that was involved in the use of tobacco.
The capacity to provide the indigenous people with a novel commodity in increasing demand, became gradually a means of control over the local population, first in ensuring the continuation of barter trade, then in allowing a more permanent presence.
When actual rigid controls were imposed, denying the sale to the indigenous people or limiting it through restrictive legislation, the power of suppliers, now dealing with contraband material, became even greater. The harmful effects often became magnified as the very illegality of the product enabled the suppliers to adulterate it, with a variety of materials (for instance turpentine), some of which constituted an even greater danger to the consumer.
Underlying causes of alcoholism
The overwhelming impact of the introduction of alcohol into indigenous communities has raised serious questions as to the causative basis for the extreme response, particularly in its manifestation of widespread alcoholism. A number of possibilities have been pursued – ranging from those which suggest that there is a physiological factor involved, one which leads to a low degree of tolerance to alcohol, through those that claim that the breakdown of the traditional culture created a social milieu in which alcohol provided some escape from an oppressive reality, to those that seek eclectic explanations involving a loose combination of factors, linked to theoretical and empirical descriptions that are oriented to the specifics of the problem.
Given the failure to prove conclusively that genetic factors are uniquely involved or that sociological processes are exclusive determinants, it is the latter eclectic approach, more sophisticated and complex, more flexible and embracing, that seems to provide a truer and fuller picture. But the overall historical picture must inevitably remain slightly blurred.
Nevertheless, drawing on broad overall processes, interspersed with sporadic, specific incidents, a fairly reliable empirical description and a linked theoretical explanation may be tentatively offered. Whatever the precise nature of the historical antecedents, the indubitable reality of today is that alcoholism is a prevalent phenomenon among indigenous people in the world, a collective malady that is among the root causes of the social malaise of indigenous communities, and a priority item in any practical project to revitalize their culture and to offer succor and hope to individuals, caught up in the vortex of historical and sociological pressures over which they have little influence.
Assigning responsibility
In some instances, the individual is born into a situation, where not only has a tribe's culture been devastated, but, already, within the womb, the fetus is exposed to the hazards of alcoholic addiction. A vicious circle has been created, which is almost impenetrable in terms of the ability to break out of it, through social reconstruction, medical treatment and legal policy. Both the larger tribal tragedy and the focused individual suffering are in dire need of imaginative thinking and concerted action, in order to resolve a long-standing problem.
There are no easy palliatives, but a modern world, basking in its technological achievements, can not continue to shunt off the problem of alcoholism among indigenous people into the forgotten byways of political concerns.
In this book, no attempt will be made to provide a practical solution to the problem of alcoholism. Workers in the areas of medicine, psychology and social work are involved in both treatment and research projects and have made some headway.
What I shall attempt to do in this book is to argue the need for a minimum degree of responsibility to be assigned to those who manufacture the harmful product, so that, like their counterparts in the tobacco industry (and increasingly in some other industries), they will be held accountable, at least, in part, for the damage that has been wrought. This responsibility is a multi-dimensional one – in social, moral and –most pertinently, but also perhaps most problematically – in legal terms.
Legal responsibility of alcohol manufacturers
If cancer patients are entitled to claim for harm caused them by cigarette smoking, then surely similar reasoning – of attributing accountability – should be attached to the producer of alcohol.
At the outset, it must be clearly conceded that, for all the similarities involved in the use and abuse of tobacco and alcohol, there are many critical differences between the two products, including those aspects that have legal implications. These differences will be examined, but in and of themselves, they do not form an a priori block preventing the example of partial successful tort litigation against tobacco companies being used as a relevant precedent against liquor companies.
It is the purpose of this book to specifically argue that, whatever the considerations of the differences between the two products, they are outweighed by the similarities. Certainly, in a modern world of globalization, characterized by the power of multi-national companies, themselves constantly exposed to critical analyses by multi-national NGO's (non-governmental organizations), it is time for probing questions to be posed to liquor companies – as to the harm their product has caused to particularly vulnerable groups; as to the responsibility – certainly moral, possibly legal – they bear toward those who have been the consumer victims; and as to their financial capacity to help remedy some small part of the ensuing tragedy. Money payments alone cannot, of course, provide facile solutions to complex problems, but often sufficient financial resources are essential prerequisites for any credible assay at a meaningful solution.
Liquor and tobacco--similarities and differences
Two major factors must be immediately addressed. First, liquor, in its varied forms, ranging from brewed beer through a host of forms of fermented wine to distilled brandy, gin, vodka and whiskey, was unknown in most parts of the world, separated by oceans from Europe and Asia. On first contact, it immediately served as an attractive source for useful bartering. Its impact on these new-found consumers, lacking the cultural traditions of moderate usage at respectable social gatherings, was immediate and profound, leading to manifestations of drunkenness, which in turn spawned stereotype images of a propensity to violence and wildness.
Whether the sudden exposure to a new product, with acknowledged negative potency, was also affected by innate physiological factors, including genetic make-up, is a question that is still open to debate – and knowledge of genes was, at that time of course, still beyond the ken of science. Yet differential response of differing population groups to other products – including such nutritious ones as milk (as will be discussed) – raise the possibility of a genetic base, at least in some cases, to indigenous intolerance to liquor.
Second, a major contrast between cigarettes and liquor is that, for the latter there has never been any doubt or debate as to both its addictive power and its harmful effect, when not taken in moderation. Indeed, apart from long-term damage (including fatal consequences), the immediate response to immoderate drinking is drunkenness, with associated negative conduct.
As for the issue of addiction, the alcohol industry has never made the same blanket denials that the cigarette industry so blatantly and falsely proclaimed. Because of these factors, those who succumb to the attractions of drink, can hardly claim that they were unaware of the dangers involved. In fact, for this reason, controls (e.g. hours of sale) are imposed. In contrast, the addictive nature of cigarettes was not recognized until recently – although the companies themselves (through their own research, the results of which were carefully concealed) were well aware of this factor and indeed focused some of their research on how to subtlety and gainfully exploit this power of nicotine. When the full extent of their duplicity was exposed, this had an adverse impact on their social image and their legal position.
Thus, the commodity being apprised, liquor, was known to be potentially harmful, and there was, and is, a manifest need to be wary in its use, to confine it to acceptable social environments, or to establish ground rules for its imbibement (for instance, a refusal to serve it in a pub or saloon to those who are momentarily losing control of their faculties). The ordinary citizen, so standard thinking goes, surely has only himself to blame if he fails to abide by normal standards of conduct associated with drink – and indeed, it is generally considered that far less people become addicted to liquor (perhaps 15% of those who regularly partake of it) than become addicted to cigarettes (estimated at well over 50% of smokers, now that it has been recognized as being addictive).
However, in terms of liquor, these generalized factors do not necessarily apply in the case of indigenous people – partly because, at introduction, the normal social practices associated with drinking, were not observed, and partly because, either for genetic reasons, or for sheer lack of previous experience in using the product, there may have been an absence of intrinsic physiological protection. In common parlance, they were unable to hold their drink.
Thus, in all parts of the world, where liquor was made available as a commodity for barter, or even as part remuneration for work done, in economic interaction with the indigenous people, problems of drunkenness in behavior arose in immediate terms, and, in the long run, of addiction, with inevitable resultant negative effects, including early mortality. On this basis, liquor companies bear a certain degree of social responsibility for the outcome, and even if, at the initial impact, they themselves were not involved (or not even in existence then), they are the economic beneficiaries of these lengthy historical processes. They certainly cannot be absolved from their responsibility for the present-day devastation of tribal communities, wracked by the ravages of widespread alcoholism.
Whether this responsibility, together with the financial largesse which they attain, constitutes also a legal liability, is admittedly problematical – but undoubtedly in need of a searching inquiry, and possibly eventual litigation.

 

 
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