Alcohol's deadly toll on Indians
12 percent of tribal deaths linked to excessive drinking.
Alcohol's deadly toll on Indians in U.S. and Oklahoma

By Julie Bisbee
Published: August 29, 2008

To Caron Yellowfish, it's no surprise that nearly 12 percent of all deaths among American Indians are alcohol-related, which is what figures contained in a new study from the Centers for Disease Control show.

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Several tribes offer treatment for addiction

In Oklahoma, several tribes have free programs to educate members about drug and alcohol abuse. In addition to education, a handful of tribes operate free residential drug and alcohol treatment centers. In Talihina, the Choctaw Nation operates a residential treatment center that sees about 300 people per year, said Darrell Sorrels, director of the Choctaw Nation's recovery center.

Sorrels said about half the people who come to the residential treatment center are battling alcohol addiction. The other half are usually trying to kick a methamphetamine habit, he said. Access to treatment can be a challenge, but that can be true for most people who live in rural Oklahoma, regardless of race, Sorrells said.

In other cases, American Indians who have successfully completed treatment programs move to a different location to avoid a relapse, said Caron Yellowfish, director of a halfway house in Lawton. It's not uncommon for former residents of the halfway to relocate to Lawton, where they already have a support network. Many continue contact with members of their Alcoholics Anonymous group, she said.

"They come back each year and visit,” she said.

Yellowfish is the director of a halfway house in Lawton — the only one in the state for American Indians recovering from an addiction. Many of the people who come to the 10-bed halfway house are trying to stay sober and look for a new way of life, she said.

"Whether it's a learned behavior or a genetic disease, every individual circumstance is different,” Yellowfish said. "It's hard for them to overcome the disease; and we have a lot of problems, especially those with felony convictions, to blend into society.”

What did the study find?

The study released Thursday found:

•11.7 percent of deaths among American Indians and Alaska Natives between 2001 and 2005 were alcohol-related.

•The rate for the United States as a whole is 3.3 percent, according to the report.

Dwayne Jarman, a CDC epidemiologist who works for the Indian Health Service and is one of the study's authors, said it is the first national survey that measures American Indian deaths due to alcohol. It should be a "call to action” for federal, state, local and tribal governments, he said.

The researchers obtained their statistics by analyzing death certificates over the five-year period.

The two leading causes of alcohol-related deaths among Indians were traffic accidents and alcoholic liver disease, each of which caused more than a quarter of the 1,514 annual alcohol-related deaths over the five-year period.

Also listed are homicide (6.6 percent of alcohol-related deaths), suicide (5.2 percent) and injuries in falls (2.2 percent).

There may be many more alcohol-related deaths than the study shows, in part because the CDC analysis did not count deaths related to some diseases for which alcohol is believed to be an important risk factor, such as tuberculosis, pneumonia and colon cancer.

Out of the nation's five Indian Health Service regions examined in the study, the Northern Plains recorded the highest alcohol-related death rate among Indians, followed by the Pacific Coast and the Southern Plains, a region which includes Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas.

The study said more than 68 percent of the Indians whose deaths were attributed to alcohol were men, and 66 percent were people younger than 50. Seven percent were under 20.

The study recommends "culturally appropriate clinical interventions” to reduce excessive drinking and better integration between tribal health care centers and tribal courts, which often deal with alcohol-related crimes. Cultural values and beliefs should be considered in the treatment process.

Contributing: The Associated Press