Alcoholism in Alaska

Alcoholism is a huge problem in Alaska that is detrimental to the states economy, well-
fare, and cultural heritage. This problem has been going on for centuries now and while some
programs have made slight dents in, reducing alcoholism, no solution has a come close to
relieving this burden on Alaska. Alaskas unique remote location and cold temperatures has
created a culture of isolation and poverty, which leads to depression and a need for some kind of
release. Unfortunately, this has led many Native Alaskans to turn to alcohol to escape their
problems, since they have no way to resolve them.
This problem of alcoholism in Alaska stems from a few factors, a major one being the
involuntary migration of the Native Alaskans during the settlement of Alaska. These groups
were removed from their home and forced to settle in remote areas away from their home land,
where they had learned to thrive, because settlers came and took over their land.
The United States government has recently tried different ways to repay the Native
Alaskans for stealing their land and the way that they treated them, however, due to the
understandable distrust these people have with the government, they do not want assistance. The
only help Native Americans seem to accept is monetary reimbursement. This is helpful for the
government because it removes them of their guilty conscious. However, by just giving the
Native Alaskans random money is only enabling them. Most of these people live in poverty
stricken villages in remote locations which can only reached by bush plane or boat. Due to their
remote lifestyle there is not much to do or purchase. So a good number of people turn to alcohol.
Alcohol is something for them to spend their money on and to escape from the depressed area in
which they live. This outstanding demand for alcohol has created an industry, stores and business
with alcohol are often the only successful ones in the village. This causes a cycle of supply and
demand which does not seem to ever have an end.
In the last 15 years, extensive research has been completed to quantify the true effect
alcohol has on Alaska as a whole. In 2010 it was calculated that alcohol and drug abuse cost the
state over 1.2 billion dollars (Hillman). This money is spent on health care costs, treatment
programs, criminal justice costs, and jail time (Hillman). But, the majority of that money comes
from the loss of productivity costs money that could have come back into the economy if a
person was not disabled by alcohol or drug abuse. Not all costs were calculated in the research.
Some additional costs not calculated into that value, but still having a high price tag are the costs
of social services, traffic crashes, the governments drug abuse treatment and prevention fund
(Hillman). The only boost the economy receives from the abuse of alcohol is the taxes from legal
sale of it, which does not come anywhere close to covering all the major costs that alcohol abuse
has on the Alaskan economy as a whole (Hillman).
Alcohol was not a common beverage of choice for the traditional/ cultural Native
Alaskan traditions. Addiction forces substance abusers to leave or betray their native traditions.
Community elders view this as a betrayal of the community as a whole. These leaders, in turn,
will turn their back on these addicted individuals, which only causes them to drink more. Again,
there is a cycle leading to the increase of alcoholism. This increase of alcohol consumption has
caused a divide in several Native Alaskan tribes. The cultural traditions are being lost because
members are choosing to abuse substances rather than to learn the oral and cultural traditions
shared by the elders in the community. It is estimated that within the next century the majority if
not all of the Native Alaskans oral culture and traditions will be completely lost. Alcoholism is
leading to the extinction of the Native Alaskan way of life.
There are a couple misconceptions about alcoholism in Alaska. The most prominent one
is that Native Alaskans genetic makeup prevents them from having good tolerance to alcohol.
However, race is not a determining factor on how well an individual can adapt to alcohol
consumption. The second misnomer is that income effects whether or not an individual abuses
substances. It has been shown that only 43% of the people whole abuse substances are actually
considered low-income (State of Alaska). Considering that a majority of Native Alaskans are
considered financially poor, this percent would suggest that a majority should not have alcohol
problems (State of Alaska).
Due to the distrust between the Native Alaskan population and the government, there are
no significant or successful governmental programs in place to help stop this trend in alcohol
abuse. The tribes themselves and their leaders have been tasked with this enormous job of
eliminating substance abuse, and how they might stop alcoholism within their individual
community. Some groups have made the decision to declare their land as dry, in which people
are not allowed to consume, sell, or be in possession of alcohol. This solution has many errors,
which are very similar to those that occurred during prohibition. If people want to drink they are
going to do whatever it takes to their hands on alcohol. This prohibition has created an entire
industry devoted to sneaking alcohol and other substances into dry towns, where they proceed to
sell these items for extremely inflated prices. They know that people will pay whatever it takes to
get their hands on alcohol. The other problem of this type of prohibition is that surrounding the
dry towns are often wet towns that allow their residents to drink alcohol. This causes people
from the dry town to just travel to the wet town and get drunk. This causes overpopulation in wet
towns leading to additional societal problems. These wet towns must deal with homelessness,
unruly conduct, and unemployment causing alcoholism to just spread throughout every village.
There is no end to the people alcohol impacts.
State Police have little power within these villages since the majority of them are self-
sufficient and have their own governing systems. The policy that several tribes, have adopted is
that if a person is found with alcohol in the case of dry towns, or black out drunk in the case of
wet towns, they will get three chances to change their behavior or else they will be kicked out of
the tribe and forced to move to one of the major cities, most commonly Anchorage. Cities such
as Anchorage are not close to any of the villages meaning that a flight is required for anyone to
get to the cities, so by sending these individuals away there is another unnecessary cost to the
economy. Once there, they are expected to join a government provided treatment center. If they
are ever able to prove they are clean, these banned tribal members will be welcomed back. The
main assumption the tribal communities make is that these abusers will do all that they can to
return to their home tribe where they grew up and most of their family resides. Unfortunately, for
most, this is not the case, their addiction stronger than any desire to return home. The majority of
alcoholics sent away end up homeless in Anchorage, doing what they can to get the substance
they depend on. Beyond this assumption there are several logistical errors with this process. One
is that by sending them to a bigger city like Anchorage, they have easier access to cheaper
alcohol. The other is that there is no regulation to ensure they will attend a government provided
treatment center. The idea of removing them from the village so that they cannot influence the
other members of the tribe benefits no one. The tribe loses a member of their community, never
to return and the alcoholic member loses his home and way of life.
The main accepted governmental assistance has been focused on education of youth.
Data shows that if children begin to drink before they are 13 years old they are much more likely
to abuse alcohol when an adult (Hillman). The government has taken this information and
created prevention education programs within the school curriculum designed to educate
students on the negative effects of alcohol or other substances. This program has shown some
positive effects in decreasing the number of high school students who drink at all and more
specifically those who choose to participate in binge drinking. These small improvements are a
start, but do not even begin to tackle the severity of this problem at the state level and more
needs to be done if we want to help Alaska thrive again. All of this information proves that
alcoholism is a huge problem that is effecting all Alaskans, and if something drastic is not done
Alaska as a whole will perish.
There are a few possible solutions to this problem. The first solution would be to make all
Native American villages dry. Anyone caught in possession of alcohol or intoxicated would be
immediately mandated to a treatment facility. Here, the individual would receive a complete
evaluation. The persons physical and mental status in relation to substance abuse would be
determined and a treatment plan created. There would be a treatment center in every single
village, which would eliminate the cost of travel and allow alcoholics to keep a connection to
their home and family. These treatment centers could be individually unique by immersing that
cultures traditions and heritages of the particular ties into the treatment process. The entire
community would band together to take on this disease that is destroying the Native Alaskan
population. The main change is that the tribes would not be just dropping these people who
obviously need help into an unknown place and told to get themselves help. The individual
would now be forced to get help and to get clean, and the community would be there for support.
The hope of this change is that people would get back to their families and the land that they
grew up on as soon as possible.
The next solution to this problem would be to create contingencies on the money that
Native Americans receive from the government every year. These contingencies would include
that in order to receive the money at all, everyone must fill out a detailed expense report that they
will be spending this money on. There would also be government appointed delegates that are
responsible for ensuring that these expense reports are followed, but more importantly that none
of the government provided money is spent on alcohol. People would be welcome to spend their
hard earned money on alcohol, however the money provided by the government would be
restricted to only the items needed and clearly listed on the expense report. There would also not
be a blanket amount that all people of Native Alaskan blood receives. The amount a person
would receive for their grievances would be determined based upon their needs listed in the
expense report. All people who have been caught in possession of alcohol in a Native American
tribe twice will be automatically denied from receiving any government money until five years
after successful completion of their treatment. The idea behind these regulations is that the
majority of some tribes income comes from this free government money. This money should be
used for needs of the individual and community, not on alcohol which is where the majority of
the money is being used now.
Alcoholism in Alaskas Native villages is slowly but surely destroying Alaska and has
already almost completely diminished the spectacular culture that this population used to pride
themselves on. This is a major health problem that has extended so far that it is now affecting
even those who choose to not participate in alcohol consumption. This problem has been
prevalent in the United States for a very long time now, however no one is ready to make the
hard decisions and tackle this problem head on. Unless major changes are made within these
villages the homeless population will continue to grow, the Native American culture will be lost,
and the economy will continue to decline as the cost of taking care of those who abuse
substances is only increasing. Now is the time for the Alaskan population to say enough is
enough and stand up for their beautiful state and fight for its well-being.

Resources:
Alaska. (2012). The 2013 Report to Congress on the Prevention and Reduction of Underage Drinking,
255-267.
Hillman, A. (2012, October 29). Drug, Alcohol Abuse Costs Alaskas Economy $1.2 Billion. Retrieved April
 26, 2015, from http://www.alaskapublic.org/2012/10/29/drug-alcohol-abuse-costs-alaskas-
economy-1-2-billion/

Jones, B. (2007, September 6). In remote Alaska , wet towns draw heavy drinkers - USATODAY.com.
Retrieved April 26, 2015, from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-06-
alaska_N.htm

Medred, C. (2013, September 3). Perils of Prohibition: Alaska's failed war on booze. Retrieved April 26,
2015, from http://www.adn.com/article/20130903/perils-prohibition-alaskas-failed-war-booze

Prevention and Early Intervention: Substance Abuse Prevention. (2012). Retrieved April 26, 2015, from
http://dhss.alaska.gov/dbh/Pages/Prevention/programs/substanceabuse/default.aspx

Reno, J. (2000). Promising Practices and Strategies to Reduce Alcohol and Substance Abuse Among
American Indians and Alaska Natives. An OJP Issues and Practices Report.

Seale, P., Shellenberger, S., & Spence, J. (n.d.). Alcohol problems in Alaska Natives: Lessons from the
Inuit. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research, 13(1), 1-31.