The shame of Alaska

A lot has been written about alcohol abuse in Alaska, particularly how it affects people in the remote villages. To combat it, some villages vote to go dry, but the liquor keeps flowing no matter what. Reading about studies or surveys or potential solutions, cold, distanced from the situation seldom brings home how evil the effects of alcohol are.

This came up on facebook the other day. It's a statement that puts the tragedy right in your face. I know the people involved and so do a lot of other people, so I am not going to name them. Suffice it to say the man involved was once a hero to Alaskans. They live in a small village off the road system.

Here is the post, his wife's plea to save her husband:

My poor husband is in a cycle of drinking until he passes out....bleary eyed, wakes up, goes to the bathroom then glubbs something from lord knows who n passes out again....for a month or more......WHOEVER THE EVIL PERSON IS SUPPLYING, WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HAPPENS!!!!!! You will be guilty of murder....that's what is facing you at the pearly gates.....no heaven for you!!!!

People will be mad at me for posting this, but enough is enough.....his 76 year old body can't take it.....if you know who is snickering about doing something behind my back....they are the covered in the mud of the worst kind.....it's on them!!!' Tell them to quit it....NO ONE WILL BE REPAYING LOANS...

Feel the tragic consequences. The story is the same across Alaska, lives, whole families destroyed by alcohol. I don't know how much more you could say about the depth of the tragedy than this woman's plea. I showed the post to a friend who also knows the family and we both admitted it brought us almost to tears, the sadness for a friend and the utter frustration of not knowing how to help, how to end this somehow.