Reconciliation and Social Justice Library

REBUTTING THE MYTHS - MYTH: ABORIGINAL PEOPLE AND ALCOHOL

· By comparison with non-Aboriginal people, a large proportion of Aboriginal people do not drink alcohol at all and, in some Aboriginal communities, alcohol consumption has been banned by the residents.

· Up to 35% of Aboriginal men do not drink alcohol compared with 12% of non-Aboriginal men.

· 40% to 80% of Aboriginal women do not drink alcohol compared with 19% to 25% of non-Aboriginal women.

In the Northern Territory, it has been estimated that 75% of Aboriginal people do not drink alcohol at all.

Research published in 1991 by Associate Professor Wayne Hall and Dr Randolph Spargo found no evidence of truth in the "fire water theory" which maintains that Aboriginal people are biologically less able to handle alcohol.

This is not to deny the obvious problems caused by the abuse of alcohol by the comparatively higher proportion of Aboriginal problem drinkers.

Source:

Aboriginal Alcohol Use. and Related Problems, Expert Working Group Report to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in

Custody (1991).