The issue of whether increased #prohibition would “cure” the Alaska #alcohol problem was in the news in 2005 (and 2015 and ….). [See earlier posts here, https://ykalaska.wordpress.com//?s=alcohol]
The claim was and is that banning alcohol–its sale and possession–would prevent misuse and violence. There is a concomitant argument that peoples “new” to alcohol haven’t learned how to “handle” it, unlike Old World peoples. There is also the argument that Asians or (Alaska) Natives are biologically unable to “hold” their liquor.
Many Alaska communities and authorities argued and argue that only banning alcohol will work. Bethel, Alaska is again arguing the issue. https://www.facebook.com/bumsted/posts/10204895458655382
I decided in 2005 to see what evidence exists for that statement/belief.
The evidence is alcohol abuse is far more complex. Prohibition works only to a point. The Old World has rising rates of binge drinking. People with flush toilets are violent when drunk.
Banning bread making is a desperate measure; people deserve better better decisions.
Look at the data–Prohibition only has limited success, anywhere. Alaska’s attitude that more of the same will work is simply not borne out by studies elsewhere and in Alaska. And erroneous silly statements such as this don’t help except to explain the backwards idea of ignoring data–Prof Wood states
“These are cultures where people have gone from the Stone Age to the Space Age. Literally, people were living in stone huts and then NASA was visiting them to scope out a runway,” Wood told me. “It’s the same thing with drinking, they don’t have the same culture of drinking that European people have.”
The Atlantic article, Bethel, Alaska, is debating whether decades of restrictions on alcohol have caused more problems than they’ve solved.
The research links below were compiled through Connotea, a scientific bookmarking service from Nature magazine. It had a lot of functionality of the old Del.cio.us but was used by researchers. The collections of others were very useful especially the annotations. Unfortunately, it was closed in 2013 or so but did alert users to download their bookmarks. Zotero has assumed much of the old functions but in addition allows for the saving of web pages and pdfs as they were available. So much of the detail of the Internet has been lost since it’s late 90s early 2000s, in favor of glitzy and temporary. I’m not sure the current Google searches are better than the old Gopher.
Anyway, here is the old library. Some of the links are lost but perhaps the titles can be “googled” to find the articles.
“It is time for the community to mature and no longer be crippled by paternalistic mentalities,” Ana Hoffman, the president of the Bethel Native Corporation, said at a city meeting about alcohol sales earlier this year.
Connotea Alcohol links
1996 Alcohol and Drug: Familial alcohol
250-363_DOnofrio.pdf (application/pdf Object)
AAAS to develop science-based teaching tools on underage alcohol use
adn.com | crime : Alcohol blamed in Nome disappearances mystery
adn.com | Crime : Rural sexual assaults get troopers’ attention
Alcohol and harm reduction, then and now
Alcohol and the community : a systems approach to prevention / Harold D. Holder
Alcohol and the Community: A Systems Approach to Prevention
Alcohol and the Community: A Systems Approach to Prevention
Alcohol at home can cut teenage binge drinking, study says | Society | SocietyGuardian.co.uk
ALCOHOL CONTROL AND Public Health
Alcohol Control Policy and Native American Communities
Alcohol Portrayal on Television Affects Actual Drinking Behaviour
Alcohol Problems in Developing Countries
An abyss beyond the bottle | The Australian
APIS – Underage Drinking Maps and Charts
BABS students create videocommercial on underage drinking
BBC NEWS | Health | DJs criticised for drink comments
BBC NEWS | Health | UK among worst ‘binge drinkers’
BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Half-empty or half-full?
Bootleggers Playing Hide-and-Seek on the Tundra
Booze laws not working – New Zealand news on Stuff.co.nz
Broken Spirits. Power and Ideas in Nordic Alcohol Control
calendarlive.com: Is home schooling best for drinking?
CLINICAL EFFECTS OF SO-CALLED MOONSHINE LIQUORS
Comparative Analysis of Alcohol Control Policies in 30 Countries
Comparing Alcohol Policies Between Countries: Science or Silliness?
Comparing Alcohol Policies Between Countries: Science or Silliness?
D.W.I.’s Vex New Mexico, Once Seen as a Model – New York Times
DETERMINING THE EFFECTS OF MEDIA PORTRAYALS OF ALCOHOL: GOING BEYOND SHORT TERM INFLUENCE
Don’t Drink Hand Sanitizer for Alcohol
Drunken aftermath of sevens | Stuff.co.nz
Drunken Comportment: a Social Explanation
Emotions run high at Cambridge Bay meeting on alcohol
Evaluation of policy alternatives to reduce alcohol-related traffic fatalities
Expectations and excessive drinking – International Herald Tribune
Fifteen children a day attend Scottish emergency departments as result of drinking alcohol
First-of-its-kind Italian school study finds high levels of prenatal alcohol exposure
Harold D. Holder Alcohol and the Community – Cambridge University Press
How effective are alcohol and other drug prevention and treatment programs
How much people drink may matter less than how they drink it.
Impossible Mission: A History of the Legal Control of Native Drinking in Alaska
Internet Archive: Details: Radio Call-in Alcohol Delivery Site
Jailing alcoholics doesn’t work: N.W.T. health minister
Lawmakers have personal stake in DWI legislation
Local alcohol prohibition, police presence and serious injury in isolated Alaska Native villages
Meta-analysis in alcohol treatment research: does it help us to know what works? (Full Text)
Methods for evaluating policy changes in alcohol services
Nain booze rules won’t work, bar owner says
Neurogenetic adaptive mechanisms in alcoholism
newsminer.com • City seeks solutions to chronic inebriate dilemma
NIDA – Research Monographs – Monograph 168: Rural Substance Abuse: State of Knowledge and Issues
NIH unprecedented genetic study may help identify people most at risk for alcoholism
PFDs, Binge Drinking and Therapeutic Court
Rare rape conviction given by Barrow jury
Reducing the harms of alcohol in the UK
Reducing the harms of alcohol in the UK
Residents fight house for homeless drunks
Review Alcohol and the Community: A Systems Approach to Prevention
Six-year sentence dismays victim’s family
Snowmachine injures dog in Mackey’s Sweepstakes team
South Africa’s wine country fights alcoholism scourge | csmonitor.com
SpringerLink – Journal Article
Stemming the tide of alcohol | Stuff.co.nz
Students call for alcohol limits in N.W.T. community
TELEVISION AND MUSIC VIDEO EXPOSURE AND ADOLESCENT ALCOHOL USE WHILE GOING OUT
The Associated Press: Wet Towns Draw Binge Drinkers
The relationship of outlet densities to alcohol consumption: a time series cross-sectional analysis.
The Why Files | 1. Fetal alcohol syndrome and apoptosis
‘We’re in denial’ on alcohol abuse, Inuit politician says
What is an alcoholic? Looking after drunks
Whose Spirits Have Been Broken Anyway? Power and Ideas in Nordic Alcohol Control
You can cut back on alcohol — latimes.com
Youth Exposure to Alcohol Advertising on Radio — United States, June–August 2004
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