Alcoholism is one of our nation's greatest social problems to this day and brings with it many negative aspects, the most terrible of which is death at the hands of this disease . Alcohol and alcoholism have been part of societies for centuries. This custom was brought to the new world when the first settlers landed on the shores of what would become America. Furthermore, by bringing alcohol to this new land, an entire nation of Native American Indians were introduced to a product that has affected them more negatively than any other to date, and continues to suffer today and likely well into the future. Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is located in the southwest corner of South Dakota, on the border with Nebraska. Pine Ridge is home to the native Oglala Sioux Indians and is the second largest reservation in the United States. Pine Ridge was founded in 1889, but not by the residents who would become members of the community; instead, this community was founded by our government and today suffers from one of our nation's greatest social problems, alcoholism. This community shows evidence of the negative aspects of alcohol and alcoholism and how they affect their community. (Schwartz, 2006) When we consider alcoholism as a social issue, we must recognize that alcoholism tends to follow certain economic and ethnic groups, and also tends to run in families. There are genetic factors linked to who is more susceptible to becoming an alcoholic. As stated by Bethany Winkel in her article Alcoholism Among Native Americans (2010) "Some ethical groups experience alcoholism on a broader level. Native Americans are one such group. Their rate of alcoholism is much higher than the rest of the population". Alcoholism affects eight or...... half of the paper ...... Retrieved September 7, 2011, from http://addiction.lovetoknow.com Kibbey, H. (n.d.). Genetic influences on alcohol consumption and alcoholism. In Indian education. Retrieved September 7, 2011, from http://www.indiana.edu/~rcapub/v17n3/p18.htmlWinkel, B. (2010). Alcoholism among Native Americans. In the treatment solutions network. Retrieved September 7, 2011, from http://www.treatmentsolutionsnetwork.comMiller, Y. (2011). Alcoholism: The Physical and Social Effects Jones-Saumty, D., Hochhaus, L., Dru, R., & Zeiner, A. (1983). Psychological factors of familial alcoholism in American Indians and Caucasians. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 39(5), 783-790. Retrieved October 15, 2011, from the Academic Search Complete database. Schwartz, S. (2006) The Arrogance of Ignorance: Hidden, Out of Sight, and Out of Mind. Retrieved November 18, 2011, from http://nativevillage.org