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Session brings
promise of congressional hearings
By Sam Lewin
3/1/2006
Concerns over the epidemic of Meth use dominated the annual winter session
of the National Congress of American Indians, the NCAI reports.
"Methamphetamine is killing our people and devastating our communities,”
said NCAI president Joe Garcia.
With many people living in Indian Country likely already witnessing
firsthand the problems Meth brings, Garcia cited a newspaper article to
hammer the issue home.
"According to a report by the Denver Post, from 2003 to 2004 – the year
characterized by the highest documented increase in crystal
Methamphetamine use – criminal charges for drug possession increased 353
percent, assaults tripled, theft nearly doubled, and child abuse increased
by 85 percent on the Wind River Indian Reservation. Similar reports are
cropping up from reservations nationwide,” Garcia said. “Farther south,
the Navajo Nation has experienced a more than 100 percent increase in Meth
use on the reservation in the past five years. Recent data from the Indian
Health Service estimate that 30 percent of American Indian youth have
experimented with Methamphetamines."
A tribal leader reported on the impact Meth has had on her community.
"There have been 120 suicide attempts and 84 actual suicides in my tribe
alone since 2002," said San Carlos Apache Chairwoman Kathleen Kitcheyan.
"Some of these were directly related to the abuse of Meth. Last year, in
my tribe, 63 babies were born addicted to crystal Meth. This has to
change."
Meth use in Oklahoma appears to be on the decline. Officials credit this
to a 2004 law restricting the sale of cold tablets, but at least one
elected official says the problem, while perhaps diminished, is still too
large to ignore.
"Meth trafficking is destroying our communities. Sales restrictions like
Oklahoma's are an important and necessary step in combating this epidemic,
but not the end of the road, Oklahoma,” U.S. Representative Dan Boren said
during the winter session. “Just because people aren't making Meth doesn't
mean they're not using it. Local, state and tribal officials in Oklahoma
are now seeing fewer Meth labs, but just as much of the drug as
high-quality Meth from the super labs in Mexico flood the state. We have
to address this problem on all fronts.”
The attacks on Meth were more than just words. The winter session closed
with a vow from Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) Byron Dorgan (D-ND) to hold
congressional hearings. Officials will examine proposals laid out by
Garcia, including input from the both the White House and other tribal
leaders on an initiative for interagency cooperation on drug enforcement.
"What it represents is another terrible, terrible attack on Indian
Country," said McCain.
Also during the NCAI session, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of
Minnesota donated $1 million to the Embassy of Tribal Nations Capital
Campaign. The campaign is an effort to establish an “embassy” in
Washington, D.C.
“It makes great sense for there to be an Indian Embassy in the nation's
Capitol," said Shakopee Vice-Chairman Glynn A. Crooks "When Indian people
are in town visiting their Senators and Congressman they will also have a
place they can call home."
From
Native American Times |
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