ABSTRACT

Working and living in Alaska, where social, cultural and economic upheavals are part of the Alaskan lifestyle, provides an unusual opportunity to examine drug-taking behavior in a multicuItural and transitional society. The economic, social, cultural and climatic forces at work in Alaska all contribute to an extraordinary high level of alcohol consumption and drug-taking behavior across all levels of society (Division, 1990; Lonner, 1983; Segal, 1988). That the adverse health and social impacts of excessive alcohol and other drug use and abuse present a special problem to its people, particularly to its indigenous Natives, is in large part related to the particular nature of Alaska and its people. Any attempt to achieve an understanding of drug-taking behavior in this vast land called the "Last Frontier," needs to start by gaining a perspective on the land and its people.