Tribe suing beer makers over alcohol problems

[muslimah]

 

LINCOLN, Neb. - A Native American tribe sued some of the world's largest beer makers Thursday, claiming they knowingly contributed to devastating alcohol-related problems on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota said it is demanding $500 million in damages for the cost of health care, social services and child rehabilitation caused by chronic alcoholism on the reservation.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court of Nebraska also targets four off-site beer stores in Whiteclay, a Nebraska Panhandle town that, despite having only about a dozen residents, sold nearly 5 million cans of beer in 2010. Most of its customers come from the Pine Ridge reservation on the town's border.

Leaders of the tribe blame the Whiteclay businesses for chronic alcohol abuse and bootlegging on the reservation, where all alcohol is banned.

A spokeswoman for Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide, one of five beer companies named in the suit, said she was not yet aware of the lawsuit when contacted by The Associated Press early Thursday afternoon. Representatives for the four beer stores in Whiteclay declined comment or were unavailable.

The lawsuit alleges that the beer makers and stores sold to Pine Ridge's Indian population, knowing they would smuggle the alcohol into the reservation to drink or resell. The beer makers supplied the stores with "volumes of beer far in excess of an amount that could be sold in compliance with the laws of the state of Nebraska" and the tribe, tribal officials allege in the lawsuit.

The Connecticut-sized reservation has struggled with alcoholism and poverty for generations, despite an alcohol ban in place since 1832. Pine Ridge legalized alcohol in 1970 but restored the ban two months later, and an attempt to allow it in 2004 died after a public outcry.

The lawsuit says one in four children born on the reservation suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The average life expectancy is estimated between 45 and 52 years, the shortest in North America except for Haiti, according to the lawsuit. The average American life expectancy is 77.5 years.

"The illegal sale and trade in alcohol in Whiteclay is open, notorious and well documented by news reports, legislative hearings, movies, public protests and law enforcement activities," the lawsuit states. " All of the above have resulted in the publication of the facts of the illegal trade in alcohol and its devastating effects on the Lakota people, especially its children, both born and unborn."

Nebraska lawmakers have struggled for years to curb the abuse in Whiteclay, and are considering a measure this year that would allow the state to limit the types of alcohol sold in troubled areas like it.

The lawsuit names Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide, SAB Miller, Molson Coors Brewing Company, MIllerCoors LLC and Pabst Brewing Company as defendants.

Pine Ridge encompasses some of the nation's poorest counties. U.S. census statistics place Shannon County, S.D., as the third-poorest, with a median household income of $27,300 and nearly half of the population meeting federal poverty standards.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57374180/tribe-suing-beer-makers-over-alcohol-problems/?tag=cbsnewsSectionContent.1

[pvtjokerus]

So much for those taking responsibility of the own actions. Maybe they should sue the Mexican Cartels for their crystal meth problems too.

[jehosoba84]

Well then...who is responsible for the creation of gummy bears!!?? I wanna have a word with them over my addiction. It's their fault!

[rocketracer]

The way the American Indian has been treated is deplorable!

[jehosoba84]

 

Quoting rocketracer:

The way the American Indian has been treated is deplorable!

 I agree, but blaming others for their own members' alcohol use/abuse is no better.

[rocketracer]

Quoting jehosoba84:

 

Quoting rocketracer:

The way the American Indian has been treated is deplorable!

 I agree, but blaming others for their own members' alcohol use/abuse is no better.

Normailly, I would agree, but this time I'm on the side of the American Indian.

[SuperChicken]

That's like suing McDonald's because you're fat. Unless the beer stores are forcing people to come and purchase their product, this is crazy. Is the tribe really saying that it's members need to be babysat like children and have stores tell them what they can and cannot purchase? If the stores DID refuse to sell products to the Tribe's members, I bet they'd be suing for discrimination.

[Tanya93]

stupid

[ThatTXMom]

While I am not sure about the tribe suing in this case,one must recognize that the systematic extermination of Native Americans is nothing new. In my opinion, Pine Ridge is one of the most depressed and oppressed places in this Nation. The fact that Americans do nothing to help the "weakest" among us speaks volumes. Many residents of Pine Ridge seem to have no hope. After years and years of oppression and isolation is it any wonder that they suffer social ills? Instead of pointing and laughing at the desperate attempts of tribal leadership, perhaps we should ask ourselves "What can I do to help?"

[Sparta.]

Bump

[ThatTXMom]

Pine Ridge is the eighth-largest reservation in the United States and it is the poorest. The population of Pine Ridge suffer health conditions commonly found in Third World countries, including high mortality rates, depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, malnutrition, and diabetes, among others. Reservation access to health care is limited compared to urban areas, and it is not sufficient. Unemployment on the reservation hovers between 80% and 85%, and 49% of the population live below the federal poverty level. Many of the families have no electricity, telephone, running water, or sewage systems; and many use wood stoves to heat their homes, depleting limited wood resources.

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