The Burden of Alcohol Consumption on Native Americans Native Americans used alcohol long before Europeans colonized America. Alcohol was consumed mainly for spiritual reasons, and their drinks contained only diluted alcohol, since a lot of effort was required to produce it. Native Americans used alcohol to communicate with spiritual forces, and only high-ranking priests had access to it. Distillation, then a European process for producing more potent alcoholic beverages, was unknown to them, but when Europeans began trading with Native Americans, the newcomers introduced them to methods of producing more potent beverages. The sudden abundance of more potent drinks did not allow the natives to regulate the use of alcohol, unlike the Europeans, who had thousands of years of experience and had regulated its distribution centuries earlier. Because of the history of alcohol in the New World, factors such as socioeconomics, culture, and genetics have influenced modern Native Americans to abuse alcohol comparably more than other ethnic groups, and this has had a destructive effect on their society. Reserve Blues, Sherman Alexie, also Native American, describes the life of Native Americans on a reservation in Spokane, Washington State. In the book, alcoholism on this reservation is discussed in meticulous detail. For example, Alexie points out that one reason for such a high rate of alcohol abuse among members of the Spokane tribe is the socioeconomic situation on the reservation. Poverty, unemployment and low levels of education often encourage alcohol consumption. For example, Simon, one of the characters in Alexie's story, cannot afford to repair his truck, so he drives his pickup truck backwards, puts... middle of paper... is forced to assimilate European culture, often by violent means. Trauma from violence and cultural loss led Native Americans to use alcohol as a coping mechanism. Finally, their genetic predisposition is also a disadvantage and, unfortunately, has only served to strengthen their addiction to alcohol. Works Cited Alexie, Sherman. “Author Sherman Alexie Talks 'Flight'.” Interview by Rebecca Roberts. Speeches of the Nation. NPR. Seattle, Washington, April 11, 2007. Radio. Transcript.Alexie, Sherman. Blues Reservation. New York: Grove, 1995. Print.Beauvais, Fred. “Spotlight on special populations. American Indians and alcohol”. Alcohol Health & Research World 22.4 (1998): 253-259. CINAHL Plus with full text. Network. July 23, 2014.Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1993. Print.