Indigenous Hawaiian Psychoactive Drug Use: Before European Contact, and after 1778

Colonial Regimes of Mental Health, Substance Use, Drug Treatment, and Recovery: A Locally Contextualized, Anticolonial Response

“…Successful adaptation to the conditions of State-sanctioned incarceration is contingent on self-preservation or a highly selfish survival-oriented morality. For example, State-subsidized drug abuse treatment programs and the State’s criminal justice system work in tandem to coercively compel Hawaiian people into abstinence-oriented lifestyles and regard any substance use—whether for spiritual reasons, communal bonding, cultural revitalization of indigenous psychoactive drug use, or motivated by other intent with therapeutic purpose such as a response to unknowing cultural loss, oppression, historical trauma and generations of forced assimilation (e.g., Coomber & South, 2004; Edwards et al, 1983; Pokhrel & Herzog, 2014; Williams, 2016; Williams, Makini et al, 2021; Williams, Rezentes, et al, 2021; Williams, Davis, et al, 2021)—as problematic social activity that is emblematic of failure, worthy of treatment termination, and warrants a suspension of free will. Kalant and Kalant (1966) underscore the so-called “bad” effect of drug use:…the traditional view of Europeans and North Americans would be that such an effect is bad because it impairs useful work, diminishes productivity, and lowers the material standard of living of a large number of people who may become charges upon the rest of society.…”

“…In Hawai‘i, the Native Hawaiian government attempted to combat the trafficking of alcohol to Hawaiians through public policy while simultaneously avoiding draconian punishments and the over-incarceration of Hawaiians (Williams, Makini, et al, 2021). Instead of targeting Native Hawaiian users, the kingdom regulated the commercial trade of alcohol, attempting to prevent European powers from inundating the Islands with alcohol (Williams, Makini, et al, 2021). Unlike the indigenous Hawaiian beverage, ‘awa, Inglis (1975) notes that alcohol’s function as an intoxicant “was in the colonists’ self-interest to encourage it” (p. 59) as it would “take away understanding” (p. 29).…”

“…According to Williams, Makini, et al (2021), within the Hawaiian kingdom, the government cracked down on business establishments selling alcohol. While the justification for these restrictions were initially in line with the Christian influence from European missionaries, by the mid-1800s, the Hawaiian government focused instead on the social costs of alcohol and its detriment to the collective health and well-being of the Hawaiian nation.…”