Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 2007)
TRIBAL PROGRAM NEWS Ask Raven Raven will answer your questions about problems associated with alco hol, tobacco, and other drugs. You can call in your questions to the numbers below or mail them to: Raven P.O. Box 549 Siletz, OR 97380-0549 Dear Raven: I was wondering how much drugs or alcohol it would take for an average adult to overdose. By Anonymous Dear Anonymous: Entire books have been written about this question because there are many factors that contribute to an overdose. Some people have a reaction like an allergy to alcohol or other drugs. Some people are more “drug sensitive.” Body weight and fat can be a factor, especially with alcohol. Alcohol/other drugs mixed with prescription or over-the-counter drugs are an important concern. And other health conditions such as diabetes, heart problems and hepatitis will be severely affected by even small amounts of alcohol/other drugs. The information Em going to give you today will be general and cannot apply to everyone in every situation. It can give you an idea about how much is dangerous for most people. Alcohol: If large amounts of alco hol are consumed in a short period of time, alcohol poisoning can occur. A blood alcohol level of .40 or more usu ally is considered the level for alcohol poisoning, but many other serious physi cal problems can cause life-threatening problems with much lower doses. Cocaine and amphetamines: Overdoses can be caused by as little as 1/50 of a gram or as much as 1.2 grams. There really is no safe amount. Death can occur within 40 minutes to five hours after exposure. Opiates/o pi oids/se dative hypnotics: Examples of these are heroin, narcotic pain medications like OxyContin, Vicodin and methadone. There are so many different types of drugs in this category it’s difficult to be specific about each drug. The best thing to keep in mind is that they should be used only when prescribed by a doctor. Unless the patient has a severe and debilitating condition, they should only be used for short periods because they are highly addictive drugs. Marijuana: Marijuana overdose does not have the same dangers as other drugs, however, heavy long-term use can cause serious health problems and when the person stops using mari juana. he or she will experience with drawal symptoms. If there was a drug you wanted to know about that I didn't mention, please let me know. If you are asking because you currently use any of the above drugs, please be careful. They are all addictive and all can cause prob 10 • Siletz News • lems, including health, legal, financial, family, school and work, and conflicts in relationships. Please talk with a health care pro fessional if you need more information. Raven Dear Raven: How do I talk to my kids about prevention? What is pre vention? What can 1 do to best support prevention activities in my commu nity? A Mom Dear Mom: First, I’m sorry it has taken a long time for me to answer your question. Sometimes those question boxes don’t get checked! I will ask my helpers to check more often! Talking with your children about prevention is very important. As a par ent, you know your family risk factors. If you have diabetes or other health problems in your family, if there are family members who have had prob lems with addictions, if there are people in your family who have had legal trouble resulting in incarceration, or it there has been violence in the family, especially that the children are aware of, those are factors that place your children at risk for eventually experi encing those same kinds of problems. When they are old enough to un derstand, it’s important to start to edu cate them that there are things they need to be careful about. If you are unsure, you might want to talk with a counselor to assess your family risk factors and develop some tools for you to start to talk with your children at the right time and in the right way. There also is written information that can help you and if you call Delina, the prevention coordinator, and let her know, she will provide you with it. Prevention is' really a plan of ac tivities, parenting techniques and com munity support that will help your child reduce those risk factors and increase those things that will help protect your child from those areas of risk. Delina can help you develop an individual plan that will be a guide for you if you would like that support. Please let Delina know if you would like to be informed of preven tion activities for your child or for you as a parent. You can best support those activities being available by being in touch with Delina. knowing when they happen and when there is activity that would be good for your child, encour aging him or her to participate. You can sign up to help chaperone and partici pate in other ways. Thank you for writing. Raven September 2007 (------------------------------------------------------------------------------ i Prevention September is J Wellbriety Month! | I I I This year’s Wellbriety dinner again will be provided at Run to the Rogue registration. 1 | Sept. 12 | Siletz Tribal Community Center | Run to the Rogue | Orientation - 5:30 p.m. | Wellbriety Dinner - 6 p.m. | Recognition Ceremony - | 6:30 p.m. | Generational Trauma | Presentation - 6:45 p.m. Closing - 8 p.m. t____________________________ ' Siletz Tribal A&D Programs Prevention, Outpatient Treatment, and Women’s Transitional Siletz: 1-800-600-5599 or 541-444-8286 Eugene: 541-484-4234 Salem: 503-390-9494 Portland: 503-238-1512 Tribal Children Need You Do you value Siletz Native culture and want to help preserve it? If so, please consider fostering for the tribe. The Siletz Tribe needs loving, stable, nurturing homes in all areas. If you are interested, please contact: Shawna Nagunst Foster Care Certifier I-800-922-1399, ext. 1275, or 541-444-8275 or visit www.ctsi.nsn.us/icw.html by Delina John What is prevention: • • • • • • • • • Culture Elders School Parents Families: aunties, uncles, grand mas, grandpas Volunteers/mentors Ministers/pastors ATOD support staff Anything that builds on positive/ healthy behaviors in youth Prevention is striving to create posi tive interactions with youth, adults and families that support increasing protec tive factors and decreasing risk factors. Risk factors are characteristics of individuals, their families, schools and community environments that are as sociated with increases in alcohol and other drug use, delinquency, teen preg nancy, school dropout and violence. Protective factors are those asso ciated with reduced potential for drug use. They encompass family, social, psychological and behavioral charac teristics that can provide a buffer for young people. With opportunities, skills, recognition, bonding, healthy beliefs and clear standards, you get healthy behaviors. Prevention according to the risk factors/protective factors theory is based on a simple premise: To prevent a problem, we need to identify the factors that increase the risk that the problem will develop and then find ways to reduce the risk. At the same time, we must identify those pro tective factors that buffer individuals from the risk factors in their environ ments and then find ways to increase the protection. It’s important to know this to cre ate healthy lifestyles for our youth. I’m available to help anyone who wants to learn more about the risk/protective theory. It takes a whole community of healthy people to raise our children today and this is a start. I can be reached at 541-444-8286 or 1-800-600-5599, ext. 1286. Just ask for Delina.
