# Native American reservations and alcoholism in 20th century - history of their response? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 30, 2010, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-reservations-and-alcoholism-in-20th-century-history-of-their-response/527019 "2010-01-30T12:47:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-reservations-and-alcoholism-in-20th-century-history-of-their-response/527019/21 "2010-01-31T16:33:33Z")
> [@CateAyo](#): > > And, thanks, **Colibri**. Yeah, I know…just doing your job. I just hear that stuff so much, it is nice to not be the one to engage the speaker. You may have saved me a banning. My pleasure. Of course, you’re welcome to engage the poster in the Pit, just not in GQ. However, since that post was blatantly trolling in addition to being jerkish, I think this would be counterproductive. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-reservations-and-alcoholism-in-20th-century-history-of-their-response/527019/22 "2010-02-01T00:37:07Z")
I don’t know about other areas, but don’t try to bring alcohol onto the Navajo Nation. You can’t buy it and can be charged with possession. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-reservations-and-alcoholism-in-20th-century-history-of-their-response/527019/23 "2010-02-01T03:52:23Z")
> [@code\_grey](#): > > who said anything about beating people up? How about calling the offender before a council of elders and, in the presence of all his (and especially her, if that’s the case) relatives and neighbors explain how bad it is what they are doing for the offender personally, for the family and for the tribe as a whole? Do you have any alcoholic relatives? What have you done personally to shame that person out of using alcohol? And how did that work out for you? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-reservations-and-alcoholism-in-20th-century-history-of-their-response/527019/24 "2010-02-01T05:52:37Z")
[QUOTE=code\_grey] who said anything about beating people up? [/QUOTE] You did. > [@code\_grey](#): > > Can they at least assemble a council of elders and **bash the people who do things like that?** “Bash” normally means a form of violence, such as in the phrase “gay-bashing”. If you didn’t mean it in that sense, what sense did you mean? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-reservations-and-alcoholism-in-20th-century-history-of-their-response/527019/25 "2010-02-01T14:07:53Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > “Bash” normally means a form of violence, such as in the phrase “gay-bashing”. If you didn’t mean it in that sense, what sense did you mean? 😕 Not necessarily. “Bash” is also very commonly used in a figurative sense; e.g. media bashing, celebrity bashing. It would appear **code\_grey** was just using it in the sense of “to punish.” ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-reservations-and-alcoholism-in-20th-century-history-of-their-response/527019/26 "2010-02-01T14:55:39Z")
I feel bad for the Native Americans. Their genetics and alcohol don’t mix. They are very susceptible to alcoholism and diabetes. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. Law enforcement can’t cure alcoholism and a genetic predisposition to it. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-reservations-and-alcoholism-in-20th-century-history-of-their-response/527019/27 "2010-02-01T15:36:24Z")
_Geezers need excitement If their lives don’t provide them this they incite violence Common sense, simple common sense_ – The Streets ---
**Author:** ![CateAyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@CateAyo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CateAyo)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-reservations-and-alcoholism-in-20th-century-history-of-their-response/527019/28 "2010-02-02T02:25:47Z")
> [@Perciful](#): > > I feel bad for the Native Americans. Their genetics and alcohol don’t mix. They are very susceptible to alcoholism and diabetes. > > You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. Law enforcement can’t cure alcoholism and a genetic predisposition to it. Again, there is no proof of a genetic predisposition to alcoholism as an addiction. While the addiction potentially does exist in all societies, it is alcoholism that create the larger block of social problems…it is binge drinking and the high risk behavior associated with it. You are correct, however, in citing our widely shared genetic proclivity to diabetes. I have seen research that indicates that the same mechanisms that interrupt our processing of sugars, and maintenance of our own glucose levels interferes with the processing of some alcohols as well, leading to problematic behavior. It might be useful to remember, however, that alcohol production and use did not begin with European contact. The consumption prior to contact was more stringently controlled by ritual and ceremony and was not handled as casually as would later be the case. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-american-reservations-and-alcoholism-in-20th-century-history-of-their-response/527019.md?page=1)