Culture Topics

     We all know that alcoholism is a recurring problem on Native American reservations. Indigenous people were first introduced to alcohol by the Europeans, then they had their land stolen, their population was decimated and as a result they ended up losing a big part of their culture. This led to Indigenous people drinking alcohol as a coping mechanism for their generational trauma. As alcohol addiction started to rise on Native American reservations, they used a spiritual medicine to heal from their addiction, called peyote, also a hallucinogen. The active ingredient in peyote is called mescaline, but how do Native Americans use it to treat their alcoholism? Many Native Americans use this plant in traditional meetings to help treat their addiction to alcohol. In these religious ceremonies, peyote is not viewed as a drug but is viewed as medicine for healing. Although it was mostly used for healing purposes, some started to experience negative effects. Others also star...

For years, Native Americans have been stereotyped as “drunks.” But where did the stereotype originate? Before colonization, Native Americans were living their own way of life, but then they came in contact with European colonists. To build a friendship and an alliance with the natives, the colonists traded various items with them. One of those items is “firewater”, otherwise known as alcohol. The term “firewater” comes from two sources. The first source is the addition of tobacco, hot pepper, or opium to alcohol. The other source comes from a more literal sense, throwing the alcohol into the fire to see if it was flammable and acceptable to purchase. (Abbott) The natives quickly became familiar with alcohol; most tribes soon valued it as an item to trade with/for. I will also be discussing how alcohol affected the Native American community after it was introduced by the European settlers. Alcohol had many devastating effects on the community, and they eventually used it as a coping mec...