Freeman: Tyrone: Case Study In Abuse Of Alcohol Among Blacks PD 8/28/1989

Headline: TYRONE: CASE STUDY IN ABUSE OF ALCOHOL AMONG BLACKS
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman COLUMN

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Mon. Aug. 28, 1989
Section: WAR PAGE Page: 1B Edition: FIVE STAR

TYRONE APPEARS to have a substance-abuse problem.
    He doesn't think so, however. When Tyrone gets up in the morning - usually around 10 - he has a glass or two of vodka on the rocks. Around midday, he usually polishes off a 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor. In the late afternoon, he often can be found smoking a joint or two of marijuana. And at night, Tyrone often has a nightcap of another large bottle of malt liquor.
    Probably to no one's surprise, Tyrone doesn't have a steady job. He does occasional janitorial work and gets a painting gig every so often. Other than that, Tyrone lives mainly off federal assistance.
    Tyrone would like to work full time. But he gave up hope on that long ago. Tyrone, a chocolate-brown man in his mid-30s with tightly cropped hair and dark brown eyes, has not had a full-time job in eight years. He does not have a college background, so he has been unable to find a lot of jobs that pay more than the minimum wage. He does better on federal assistance. He pays $50 a week to live in one room of an illegal boarding house in north St. Louis.
    And he drinks.

Tyrone doesn't think he has a drinking problem.
    ''I'm OK, '' he says. ''I just drink heavily on weekends.''
    By ''heavily, '' Tyrone means ''parties'' that sometimes last all weekend. The parties are drinking parties, in which he has friends over to his room to sit around, laugh and drink. And smoke. And drink.
    Three liquor stores are on the corner nearest to Tyrone's home. Outside those stores, men can be found standing around and drinking throughout the day and into the night. Some of them drink out of paper bags. Others are more blatant and drink in full sight.
     Drinking and smoking help Tyrone forget about his problems. About the paint that peels from his ceiling and walls. About the hot air that blows through his windows during St. Louis' hot summers.

It's hard to say whether Tyrone's substance abuse is the result of all of his problems or if those problems are the result of his substance abuse. But one thing's for certain: Tyrone's experience is not unique.
The National Urban League has identified substance abuse as the single major leading social, economic and health problem confronting blacks today. ''In addition to being implicated in deaths from cancer, strokes, hypertension, cirrhosis of the liver and heart diseases, substance abuse is a major factor in the increase in crime, family violence, the growing rate of violent deaths among African-Americans and the depletion of the future resources of the African-American community, '' the Urban League said in a report, released earlier this year.
Alcohol and drugs are readily available in many areas where blacks live, not only in St. Louis, but across the nation as well. Liquor stores flourish in urban central cities, as do billboards that promote alcohol.

Substance abuse often hits blacks hardest, Dr. Bill Harvey says. Harvey, who is black, heads the Narcotics Service Council, or NASCO, the oldest substance-abuse treatment center in Missouri. The center is at 2305 St. Louis Avenue.
    ''Alcohol is one of the main cripplers of our community, '' Harvey says. ''Most problems have a greater impact on people at the lower end of the economic scale. This problem hits us because we are more vulnerable in that we have less resources and are less empowered. It tends to be more difficult for us to access services that are generally available because we often don't know how to get those services.'' It is difficult for blacks to figure out how the system works, he says.
    Harvey compares the problem to cancer. ''If you get cancer and you're black and poor, you will probably have a harder time dealing with it.'' You're often unaware of the appropriate support systems, nor do you have the resources to deal with the problem, he says.
    Harvey notes that treatment centers have been seeing more blacks in the last 2 1/2 years, an indication, he says, that the situation may be worsening.
    Harvey believes black, middle-class people generally have ignored the problem over the years. But those same people, he says, are in the best position to do something about it.
    'It's going to take a lot of education to overcome this problem, '' he says.

But for Tyrone, it's going to take more than that. You see, Tyrone doesn't believe he has a problem.
Taking his cue from a popular blues song, he told me recently, after taking a swig of malt liquor, ''I'm not drunk. I'm just drinking.''

Daniel Schesch - Webweaver

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