Binge drinking
Binge drinking is a common pattern among Native Americans in both Canada and the United States. Anastasia M. Shkilnyk, who conducted an observational study of the Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation of Northwestern Ontario in the late 1970s when they were demoralized by Ontario Minamata disease, has observed that heavy Native American drinkers may not be physiologically dependent on alcohol, but abuse it by engaging in binge drinking, a practice associated with child neglect, violence, and impoverishment. After binges during which entire families and their friends drink until they are unconscious and their funds are exhausted, they go about their business without drinking.