To quote the author :

"Alcohol is doing serious damage to Indigenous communities and something must be done."

Dear author, unless you came down in the last shower you can remove the word Indigenous from that statement and it is valid.

Why do people seem to think only aborigines have a problem with grog?

The evidence is overwhelming mate. In all society it is the number one killer, the number one destroyer of families and lives, the number one reason for the road carnage, including speeding.

Please tell me why it is good for whites but not for blacks? No doubt some fool will trot out the old "They just can't handle their grog" line. Sorry pal, nobody can. Can being the operative word.

Is the author that thick he believes the problem is only aboriginal and restricted to the outback?

Ever heard of Schoolies Week? The week Australia allows all the underage drinkers in our country to trash themselves and various tourist spots. But that's not a problem is it?

Actually Schoolies is really just a carbon copy of a normal weekend for so many young people. Grog from Friday to Sunday and hangovers for breakfast on Monday, if they go to work that is.

If you are going to talk about the effect of grog then do try to be inclusive, or rather, refrain from following Howard's racist views.

Aboriginals are always in focus because they are so isolated and yet in full view. We just didn't want to see before and I doubt we do now. Nah, just down a schooner and forget about it. Who's driving?

When I studied biochemistry in the 50's we learned that aborigines do not possess the enzyme 'alcohol dehydrogenase' in their liver and therefore they could not detoxify it; alcohol was basically a poison for them.

I then understood why they were not permitted access to alcohol.

So, when Whitlam legalised alcohol for aborigines, I was surprised, but bowed to presumably more recent knowledge.

Seeing the horrible and degrading effect of alcohol on aborigines in their own environment, I sense that the 50's information was correct. If so, there are some terrible interpretations available for allowing access to alcohol in the 70,s.

Does anyone else have knowledge on this aspect of alcohol metabolism in aboriginals - and - if it is valid what is the situation for various levels of aboriginal genetics ?

The indigis had grog long before the white felle came

Could hellpal55 tell us what the aborigines used for anaerobic and sterile containers. I haven't yet seen a rock painting depicting lubras with full kangaroo stomachs slung over their shoulders (full of fermenting fruit) as they walkabout - or heaps of people rolling around in drunken stupor. If their livers can't process ethanol, I suspect it would have been taboo.

Perhaps Hellpal55 could address the issue, otherwise he becomes the contributor who destroys the ethic of blogs, particularly Onlineopinion.