Alcohol Prohibition Is Hurting Northern Canada

[Jabberwocky]

How Alcohol Prohibition Is Hurting Northern Canada
In remote areas of Canada, alcohol prohibition is contributing to high rates of addiction, crime and poverty.

What if alcohol prohibition had never been repealed? This is the reality for people living in Nunavut, the northernmost region of Canada, where alcohol has been banned for years in 95% of the territory. And things there are pretty bleak. The region is mostly comprised of Inuits, who were forced out of a traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle only two generations ago. In addition to a crime rate four times higher than the national average, the communities have struggled with a high rate of alcoholism, which persists despite (and maybe even because of) prohibition.

In this documentary, Vice visits Nunavut to see how prohibition has affected people’s lives. One resident says living in a dry county makes alcohol more appealing to young people because “[it's] a huge high to try and get booze.” Alcohol is sold on the black market at a steep price, which contributes to the high crime rate as well as to poverty. “I don’t blame the bootleggers, I blame the system,” says a local cab driver. “There would be no bootleggers if [alcohol] would be legal.”

[video=youtube_share;BIhUhHbTJ_s]http://youtu.be/BIhUhHbTJ_s[/video]

http://www.substance.com/video-how-alcohol-prohibition-is-hurting-northern-canada/19125/

 

[Captain.Heroin]

Very sad how the indigenous Canadians were forced out of their lifestyles

 

[ro4eva]

“I don’t blame the bootleggers, I blame the system,”

So do I.

 

[my3rdeye]

Alcohol prohibition in Canada is so racist and patronizing. They would never try it in a non native community. People drink things like Lysol or hand sanitizer up there too. You can also make your own alcohol very easy in sub zero temp. IMO it is the easiest mind altering substance to produce at home, precursors are all legal and easy to get and it it's easy to hide your still. It's harder to stop than other drugs, which you can't stop either.

 

[pill_billy]

yea they do the same shit in alaska... they try and say their some gene that makes them unable to handle their liquor... idk but sounds a lil racist to me and i always think, what if it were a bunch of white ppl living there...

 

[poledriver]

I think I saw a doco on Alaska about it. I'll have to watch this one sometime.

It's happening here in Australia as well within indigenous communities, this is a bit from Queensland law, but it happens in other remote places too I believe -

About community alcohol restrictions
There are alcohol restrictions in 19 communities across Queensland. These restrictions ban or limit the amount and type of alcohol you can take into a community. In some communities, alcohol is completely banned.

What is a restricted area?

A restricted area is where alcohol restrictions apply. This includes the entire area controlled by the local shire council, unless an area is specifically included or excluded.

Homes are included in restricted areas. Beaches, wharves and riverbeds can also be included in the restricted area.

list of communities with map showing restricted area
How much alcohol is allowed in a restricted area?

It depends on the community. The maximum amount of alcohol a person can carry within the restricted area is known as an alcohol 'carriage limit'. In some communities no alcohol is allowed (an alcohol carriage limit of zero).

Alcohol carriage limits apply to:

individuals, and
maximum amounts that can be transported in a vehicle, boat or aircraft (no matter how many passengers there are).
There are 4 specific roads where an exemption to the alcohol restrictions may apply if you meet the requirements of a ‘bona fide traveller’.

https://www.qld.gov.au/atsi/health-staying-active/about-community-alcohol-restrictions/

 

[alpha_centauri]

There's nothing "racist" about various native-American or Native-Canadian tribes deciding that they do not want alcohol sold on their reservations or land, and making up tribal laws about this.

Native Americans have a major risk of alcoholism and drug addiction both genetically, and many become alcoholics or drug addicts.

There's a major problem with alcoholism on all reservations, and not just the ones in the United States but also in Canada as well.

Aboriginal people in Australia, and the Maori in NZ also are at major risk for alcoholism and drug addiction, and many of these people become addicted to drugs and alcohol.

 

[falsifiedhypothesi]

Maybe, MAYBE tighter regulations could help these people prone to addiction but outright prohibition is just stupid.

 

[Burnt Offerings]

yea they do the same shit in alaska... they try and say their some gene that makes them unable to handle their liquor... idk but sounds a lil racist to me and i always think, what if it were a bunch of white ppl living there...

The laws vary here...some areas are "wet", some are "damp" (alcohol is legal to possess but not sell) and some are "dry" (alcohol is totally illegal).

AFAIK the "drunk native gene" is complete pseudoscience, though. The phenomenon of extreme alcoholism in native American cultures is more related to environmental and societal factors than anything else.

 

[rujex]

These native tribes usually live in very remote rural areas, where is nothing to do ( No jobs, clubs, sports etc. ).
Saying that drinking is in the genese of natives, is like saying that doing meth is in the genes of midwestern small towners.

 

[Jabberwocky]

The laws vary here...some areas are "wet", some are "damp" (alcohol is legal to possess but not sell) and some are "dry" (alcohol is totally illegal).

AFAIK the "drunk native gene" is complete pseudoscience, though. The phenomenon of extreme alcoholism in native American cultures is more related to environmental and societal factors than anything else.

These native tribes usually live in very remote rural areas, where is nothing to do ( No jobs, clubs, sports etc. ).
Saying that drinking is in the genese of natives, is like saying that doing meth is in the genes of midwestern small towners.

Basically environmental factors, currently extreme to "normal" poverty, dealing with the grief of their cultures being raped from abroad still, etc etc

If you agree there is some genetic shit at work here about folks on "settlement" style internment camps and their ilk, then you'd have to be admit that people with "indian blood" and ancestry are more likely to develop problematic patterns of use etc. And these kind of people who hold above opinions about eugenics (let's call it what were talking about what it is) would probably have a hard time arguing against the wellfare baby bullshit as well as the (again, poor and black, or so popularly understood as such) crack baby propaganda.