Being Young in Rural Alaska #12: Growing Up Around Alcohol Abuse

Report no. 12: Growing Up Around Alcohol Abuse

Reporting from: Kotzebue, AK (pop. 3,294)

HOST INTRO: Rates of alcohol abuse in Alaska are some of the highest in the nation and communities across the state regularly suffer from domestic violence, abuse, suicide and other related issues because of it. This is the final installment of the special reporting series, “Being Young In Rural Alaska” from the producers of Kids These Days.

Traveling and reporting in rural Alaska, it’s impossible to miss the signs of alcohol abuse, and yet people often don’t talk about it: it’s such a part of life that it’s almost taken for granted. So what’s it like to be a kid growing up around heavy alcohol use in small-town Alaska? Sarah Gonzales heads to Kotzebue to find out.

Kotzebue is located just north of the Arctic Circle. The community recently voted to have a liquor store in town - the first in a generation. 

SARAH GONZALES: Teens in the youth leader program in Kotzebue have some strong opinions about alcohol: 

[Teen voices montage] “I grew up here seeing people drink I’ve heard stories of people dying from overdrinking and I’ve seen what drinking can do to a person and I don’t like it… It hurts the family, too…Drinking can affect the family emotionally, physically and mentally…Fighting and don’t remember the family times and stuff like that…The alcohol and the abuse that I don’t like about this town…” 

Teen Leaders in Kotzebue.

They are outspoken among their peers on the issues of drinking, smoking, using drugs - trying to both educate and set a good example for younger students.  They’ve grown up surrounded by a lot of alcohol: 

[Teen voices montage cont…] “I’ve seen my mom and relatives drinking…My dad and uncle and them and I’ve seen the way they act and I don’t wanna act like they did…After they’ve been drinking how they were, their behavior and in the morning they’d be grouchy and I don’t wanna be like that…It really saddens me to see the people – MY people I grew up with – acting like that….It makes me feel like I’m the adult and they’re the children.” 

Meritha Cappelle is now a young adult in her 20’s. She grew up Kiana, a small village outside Kotzebue; she’s now an administrator within the borough. 

[Meritha Capelle] “A lot! There was a lot of drinking growing up. I mean, it was just the social norm.” 

Capelle says that for her growing up in a place where alcohol was restricted, where people struggled with alcoholism, made it difficult to form any sort of so-called “normal” view of drinking. 

[Capelle] “I would say it wasn’t until I left Alaska that I realized, ‘Oh they have liquor on the shelves here,’ it wasn’t locked up in a whole separate store. There was a different way to drink responsibly or even a healthy way to drink, you know, to be able to stop at a drink or two rather than finishing a bottle in fifteen minutes.” 

Kotzebue voted three years ago to allow alcohol and two years ago the package store and distribution center opened in town. Purchasing liquor is legal in limited quantities and only after paying the city for a permit and a background check.  The system brings in revenue for the city, and allows for pretty strict regulation.  That’s won the support of many community members, including law enforcement. Police Chief Craig Moates says the opening of the store hasn’t made much of an impact on the number of alcohol-related calls that they respond to. 

[Chief Moates] “We respond to a number of calls ranging from theft to assaults. (Sarah: Do you have any way of knowing if the assaults or anything else are related to alcohol?) Well, generically here we say it’s the anomaly when the calls aren’t alcohol-related.”

The "liquor store" in Kotzebue is adjacent to the police station.  

Those who want to get drunk will find a way to get their booze one way or another – bootlegging, homebrew, at a store - which is why some think that teaching youth how to have a healthier relationship with alcohol through moderation could be a more valuable message than the total abstinence one.

Scotty Barr grew up in Kotzebue, he’s now a health educator with Akeela: 

[Scotty Barr] “If we can as parents teach them to stay healthy and not scare them off – you know, alcohol is bad for you, tobacco is bad for you – it’s like you’re fueling them and they say, you know, I’m gonna try this.”

A truck hauling a liquor shipment from airport to package store. Those with a permit are allowed 1 liter of hard liquor, 2 liters of wine and 1 gallon of beer per day.  

But, there’s enough stigma about alcohol abuse, that many moderate users don’t want to engage in any sort of public, alcohol-related behavior says Meritha, like buying a bottle of wine at the local package store... 

[Capelle] “I won’t go there, you know, and that’s the thing – it’s not that I won’t have a drink but I won’t go there…there’s definitely a stigma.”

(From Left) Reporter Sarah Gonzales, Merithe Capelle & reporter Anne Hillman in Kotzebue. 

And while so many people still struggle with alcohol abuse, that stigma may remain. Maniilaq Association is trying new methods in its treatment and recovery programs to try to bring those numbers down.  

Bree Swanson is the Administrator for Social Services there. She says it used to be that the way those services were offered wasn’t successful – helping people get better away from their families and villages meant they often returned to the same harmful environment from before; recovery support groups were often canceled due to lack of participation. Turning that around all came down to dependable facilitators, establishing trust and implementing Inupiaq values. 

[Swanson] “We started out with nobody showing up and now we have 24 in a group, so we had to add more hours just recently.” 

Swanson says their training of Village-Based Counselors helps people where they live - and Maniilaq's starting to implement telemedicine capabilities, too - so providers in the hub of Kotzebue can remotely connect to outlying clients in the villages. 

But turning a life around from alcohol abuse isn’t just quitting the drink, she says, it’s about having work, feeling useful, being surrounded by supportive family and friends, managing everyday stressors. It's really about getting the entire community well. 

[Swanson] “You know you go back into the same community with the same people doing the same things and it’s really easy to get pulled back into that same cycle.” 

Breaking the cycle is a frequent topic of conversation among the teen youth leaders and their advisor, Michelle Woods, is no-nonsense when it comes to discussing this topic with them. 

[Woods] “If you’re gonna stay in the village then you make it a good village. If you don’t like the fact that you can’t walk down the street because you got a bunch of drunks being ass****s then YOU change it and you change it now by your attitude and by what you say to the little kids.”

Straight-talking Teen Leaders advisor, Michelle Woods

And the young people want that change. Fifteen-year old Lorena Gephardt wants to go away to college to become a pharmacist and then come back to Kotzebue to live, work and raise her own family. She hopes to do all that in a healthier environment. 

[Gephardt] “With that stuff gone – no more drunks, no more smoking or just a healthier diet – could really make a difference in this community. (Sarah: Do you think you guys can help that happen?) I DO think that because WE are the next generation, we’re the VOICES and we DO make an impact.” 

And they most likely will - if they receive the support they need to make those healthier decisions - for themselves, their families and the community as a whole. 

Reporting from Kotzebue, I’m Sarah Gonzales.

The "Being Young in Rural Alaska" reporting series airs statewide Mondays on Alaska News Nightly at 5pm or 6pm depending on your location. Go here to find your APRN station & schedule.

This series is supported by funds from the Association of Alaska School Boards' Initiative for Community Engagement program.