Alcohol: Information and brief intervention

From the earliest days of European colonisation there have been stereotypes of Indigenous Australians and the manner in which they consume alcohol. However, throughout most of Australia Indigenous Australians learned about alcohol and the behaviour associated with it from Europeans. Much of those stereotypes occurred in frontier settings or during times of prohibition which established and encouraged drinking patterns that were both furtive and harmful.6 Throughout most of Australia it is only over the last four decades that Indigenous people have had unrestricted access to alcohol, and they now drink in a wide variety of ways and environments. Just as for non-Indigenous populations alcohol consumption is more common among men, who also consume larger amounts than women. For both sexes heavier consumption, particularly binge drinking, is more common among younger drinkers.6 Similarly, the social and health costs tend to be greater among those who drink heavily, and thus whose families are also affected. However, there are also differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous consumption patterns. From about the fourth decade of age on almost a third of Indigenous men ar