----- Original Message -----
From: Craig Coonrad <[log in to unmask]>
.
>
> That I don't buy for a moment. The American Indians I know seem to be very
> proud people. If you follow that same logic the Japanese should have
> all become chronic alchoholics after they were conquered in WWII.
>
I have read that in the 1800s American Indians lacked a liver enzyme that
enables people to process alcohol.  Without the enzyme, they became
drunk/dependant at a faster rate than the white population.

The American army realized that Indians couldn't process alcohol and that
led to the practice of gifting large amounts of alcohol to the Indians; the
intended result being to make them drunk and less able to hold on to the
lands that were being taken from them.  If that is the case, it seems to
have worked.

Kath