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Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, is an intoxicating ingredient
found in beer, wine, and liquor.
Alcohol is produced by yeasts in the fermentation
of sugars and starches.
European colonists brought large quantities of alcohol with them
in the 1700s, and alcohol became an item in the fur trade.
As colonization advanced, alcohol became a disruptive
force in the traditional social structures of Native peoples.
Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant drug.
It is rapidly absorbed from the stomach and small intestine
into the bloodstream.
Because alcohol is a poison, it is broken down in the liver and
eliminated through the kidneys and lungs.
Alcohol intoxication, or drunkenness, results from
ingesting more alcohol that the body can break down.
Physically, alcohol affects every organ in the drinker's
body, and heavy use will significantly increase risk of
liver disease, heart disease, stroke, and
many types of cancer.
Alcohol can easily cross the placenta and damage a developing
fetus, causing impaired growth, poor health, and
mental development problems for life.
Drunkenness alters our perception of the world,
changes our behavior and interaction with others, and
it impairs our judgment and motor skills.
Alcohol abuse is a pattern of drinking that results in harm to
one's health, interpersonal relationships,
or ability to work.
This includes poor performance at work or school,
involvement in dangerous situations
like drinking and driving,
legal problems like domestic violence or disorderly conduct,
continued drinking that affects relationships,
drinking for emotional comfort, and even psychiatric problems.
Alcohol abuse can lead to alcoholism, which is a physical
dependence with increased tolerance
and withdrawal symptoms.
An alcoholic needs increasingly more alcohol
to feel the same effects.
An alcoholic will experience withdrawal symptoms that include
many physical symptoms, and even hallucinations.
An alcoholic spends a lot of time, energy and focus drinking,
thinking about it, and recovering from it.
An "alcoholic" will continue to drink despite harm or
personal injury to one's self, family and community.
"Historical trauma" is the collective emotional and
psychological injury both over the life span and across
generations, resulting from a history of genocide.
This generates a sense of powerlessness and
hopelessness that contributes to high rates of alcoholism,
substance abuse, suicide, and other health issues.
Current research indicates that nearly one in every eight
deaths among native people is related to alcohol.
This is about three times the rate of the general population.
Alcoholism is multi-generational, and
the risk of becoming an alcoholic increases in
members of alcoholic families.
Presently it affects 3 or 4 generations at the same time.
Those who came before us prayed for those born and
those yet unborn, they prayed for us.
They did not pray that we would forget who we are,
that we would stumble around barely conscious,
that we would neglect our children, that we would shame
ourselves and beat each other and die early deaths.
They prayed that we would carry on our ways, that we would
live in respect for ourselves and others, that we would
nurture our children, live spiritual lives, look after
mother Earth and keep our communities strong and healthy.
If we remember the prayers of our ancestors,
we can put an end to the destruction of our people