🚀 go-pugleaf

R: net33: @10000 [00:44 09/06/94]
To: SELWAY.UMT.EDU (RUSSELL
SELWAY.UMT.EDU (RUSSELL J writes:

> But did the article talk about the _cause_? I've got to dig this story up 
> and read it, but I'll make some comments here. My aunt works for the 
> state auditing books and does a lot of traveling into the bush. From her 
> observations and from talking to the people who work in (I've forgotten 
> the word) the department of health and human services the problem is not 
> violence but ALCOHOL. There are villages in the bush where 100% of the 
> villages' population are classified alcoholic.
> 
> Now that's a scary statistic.

Yes, it is a scary statistic- and quite believable. I live in a Native
village in Alaska, and have lived in this and other villages for over 14
years now.

A cause was asked for. My own take on this is that the Native peoples of
Alaska haven't had the time to acclimate themselves to the effects of alcohol
like we "mainstream" cultures have. Alcohol was introduced to many of these
natives less than 200 years ago! I've heard secondhand references to some
bodily substance (a hormone perhaps) which tends to mitigate the effects of
alcohol: apparently most Natives just don't have as much of this stuff as do
we mainstreamers.

> By the way, this is something that the tribal leaders are very aware of, 
> and in fact there has been discussion to put in place a some form of 
> prohibition. I _think_ (if I remember right) there are already some 
> villages that are "dry", or at least "semi-dry". In other words, you can 
> bring your own alcohol to town, but you can't sell or buy it legaly.

Yes. Alaska has a "local option" law which allows any village to effect its
own ordinances related to the importation or use of alcohol. Such ordinance
must be put to popular vote in the affected village. So a village can ban
importation, use, or even homebrewing. Many villages avail themselves of this
legal instrument.

But in reality it doesn't work well. My own village has banned the
importation or possesion of alcohol, making is a completely "dry" village.
However, this hasn't really cut down the alcohol use very much, because
enforcing such a law is not as easy as it would sound. The party goes on, and
when it gets out of hand, folks are that much less likely to call the cops.

Alcohol and violence do go hand in hand here in the village. I run with the
ambulance, and I've also been deputized by the local cops on many occasions.
I've seen it all, from knife fights to suicides to drownings to murders, and
almost every incident can be termed "alcohol-related".

(I'm posting from a different network today: normally in this forum I'm known
as "system@coldbox.cojones.com" , or Bryan Lockwood in the meat world)


=> The three states of matter are: wackiness, dogmatism, and perversity.
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