Aboriginal Substance Abuse
Indigenous Drug And Alcohol Abuse In Aboriginal Society
Most indigenous societies had drugs and alcohol before colonisation, but with little or no addiction and abuse. So why do we have such high levels of drug abuse now?
Strict Values And Structures
Before colonisation, drugs and alcohol were part of the cultural practices of indigenous communities worldwide. Most aboriginal cultures had strict values and structures around alcohol and drug use. Tobacco and alcohol were mostly for elders while restrictions were placed on youth. Drug abuse simply did not exist because strong social cohesion gave people the security they needed to be strong within themselves.
But these social structures were destroyed by the economic policies of colonialism, focusing on individual power and freedom rather than communal support. Colonialism therefore destroyed traditional family solidarity and, lonely and lost, aboriginal peoples turned to drug and alcohol abuse to soothe the pain, in the manner of their barbaric conquerors.
"Harsh Measures" Rhetoric
Now this plague of drug abuse is accompanied by the usual rhetoric of "harsh measures" from government. My experience in Australia has been that the social problems around drug abuse are used to justify racist legislation and denial of basic rights and freedoms for our communities. The language in the media around this, as in Australia, America and around the world, is peppered with judgements and assertions of indigenous inferiority and child-like inability to cope with "newly introduced" European drugs and alcohol.
But the truth is different. We know that most indigenous societies already had drugs and alcohol before European occupation, but with little or no addiction and abuse. So the only thing Europeans have introduced is the inability to cope with drug use, caused by western permissiveness and individualism, eroding traditional values and communal structures. This, coupled with the outrageous poverty and human rights abuses perpetrated by the invaders against our peoples, ensures that indigenous communities around the world now have horrific social and health problems related to drug abuse. And so the genocide continues.
The Only Solution
Drugs and alcohol are symptoms of the deeper problem, and any good doctor knows you can't cure the patient by treating symptoms alone. We need to be allowed to rebuild our shattered social systems and native power structures - only then will the drug abuse end. Until then, you can ban, prosecute and legislate against indigenous alcohol and drug use all you like, but it won't solve a thing.
To find out about the Australian experience of drug use and colonisation, see my article, Aboriginal Drug - Pituri.
