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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2005)
Smoke Signals 7 APRIL 1, 2005 Meth Watch: A Conversation Draws Many METII continued from page 6 In 1972, the federal government first regulated amphetamines as a narcotic and the jails have been fill ing up with drug users ever since. In addition to neighborhood watches, strategies for solving the problem include The Oregonian's re port that suggested keeping closer tabs on the few major international manu facturers of ephedrine and pseudoephedrin. Found in most cold remedies, these are the operative chemicals in meth. At the meeting, Ilellie said that with 80 percent of Oregon's meth be lieved to be coming from Mexico and California, stopping Oregon meth labs will merely shift supply sources, but the law keeping the operative chemi cals behind the counter does have some important, if limited, benefits. While nobody is assuming preven tion laws are either stopping or even slowing the spread of meth, driving the manufacturers out of state does mean that many Oregon children will never have to live in a home that doubles as a meth manufacturing plant. This year in Salem, legislation has been introduced to require law enforce ment agencies to notify communities when convicted meth cookers move into the neighborhood. In Washing ton, D.C., Oregon legislators have in troduced two meth fighting bills. Since 1989, according to a recent article in the Hillsboro Argus, 1,600 jurisdictions around the country have chosen to send non-violent drug offend ers like some meth abusers to treatment instead of jail. Just such a program, run through so-called "Drug Courts," is now beginning in Wash ington County. It has been funded with $60,000, enough to cover the 12-18-month treatment for 10 men and 10 women. The county also is seek- hi: I " Hi . S Prevention Larry Hellie, left, a Human Resources Consultant who specializes in drug abuse prevention in his personal time and Jennifer J. Martin, an Assistant U.S. Attorney who prosecutes drug cases, spoke about meth at a community meeting. ing a federal grant to cover a larger number of people. At the moment, the concept of drug courts for even a part of the meth com munity faces the same lack of fund ing that has been a recurring source of failure in this effort almost from go. But there are a lot of ways that ex perts slice the numbers and digest the strategies. For Ilellie, the difference in costs for locking up an offender or sending them through treatment is a giant barrier. The state pays $60-plusday ($21,900 plusyear) to lock up a drug offender, or $250-l,000day ($91,250-365,000 year) to treat one in a private sector in-patient facility. At the Oregon Department of Cor rections, the cost per inmate per day is $64 ($23,360year), according to DOC spokeswoman Perrin Damon, and treatment programs are included in that cost. That's the average of cost of care including programs," she said, "whether an inmate takes advantage of them or not." Hellie said in conversation after the meeting that the DOC treatment pro gram is "usually confined to last 60 days before release" and isn't going to do the job. In Washington County, where the drug courts are starting, the Hillsboro Argus reported that the annual cost of incarcerating a drug offender is $60,000year while drug court treat ment amounts to $3,000-4,000person. But again, Hellie cautioned that the drug court was not going to do the job. "Drug court money is "just being pissed away," said Hellie. "Twelve-step programs and the like have a pretty good chance with alcohol and even co caine and heroin," he said. "Meth is entirely different. It's not amenable to a drug court program. The attrac tion of meth is too overwhelming for the majority of people." But, he said, "for non-violent, young offenders, I'd rather see them in drug court." Still, in conversation after the event, Hellie noted, "Addiction is clearly a medical problem." "We have a system in place that fails on its own terms. (The medical and legal issues) are mutually exclusive. We don't have a system that realisti cally deals with the total issue." "Politicians want to turn a blind eye to the issue because it requires much deeper thought than most of those people are capable of." "The legal system is not set up to address (many of the issues) that con tribute to meth abuse," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Martin. Within this world of divergent opin ions on matters as straightforward as costs and as muddled as the right mix of treatment, enforcement and preven tion, the Tribe is moving forward with plans of its own. "How do we make this not about en forcement but about a community ef fort?" asked Tribal Council member Angie Blackwell, one of the driving forces behind the Tribe's local meth efforts. "Meth is the presenting issue," she said. "The real issue is, how do we develop a healthy community, ev erybody working together to build a healthy community. Because of the larger societal fail ure to deal effectively with this issue, Tribal Council selected meth preven tion as the focus of an upcoming Tribal grant application to the Administra tion for Native Americans. The planned project will be an inter-departmental and community ef fort to address this problem, accord ing to Kim Ray Rogers, Tribal Plan ning and Grants Manager. Warriors' Medal Of Valor Crosses The Country Marshall Tall Eagle Serna is "restoring honor to our people' f ' t . ; km L ' M. lit .,iJ a. By Ron Karten Marshall Tall Eagle Serna (Apache), an Army Master Ser geant who served in Saigon during the Vietnam War, and his wife, Lauretta, aim to give a Warriors' Medal of Valor to every living Vet eran and every active duty soldier in the country. They also go to police, firefighters and others that have gone "above and beyond in community service," said Tribal Elder Gene LaBonte, Presi dent of the Northwest Indian Veter ans Association (NIVA) and the Grand Ronde Honor Guard, who has partici pated in giving out these medals. LaBonte also has distributed the medals to Governor Ted Kulongoski, to two different National Guard gen erals, to Jim Willis, Oregon Director of Veterans Affairs and to Arthur Jack son, an Oregon Medal of Honor recipi ent. "We go to Veterans funerals to present the Colors, and we present these medals to the families of the de ceased if they have not received one," said LaBonte. The mission started at the 2002 Grand Ronde Veterans' Pow-wow, said Serna. "The Creator gave me a vision of honoring our Veterans in a military way." Since then, he has designed and minted thousands of medals. The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde purchased 300 of them at $10 each for NIVA, where LaBonte and other Vets picked up the ball. (See Smoke Sig nals 8104). There currently are 5,000-7,000 out there, said Serna. "We are headed up to Alaska to present medals to about 250 active military personnel at the Ketchikan Coast Guard Station for a June 2 pre sentation," he said. The Sernas also have been invited to England to give medals to Ameri can Veterans living there. They are fund-raising for that trip now. "We'll send a free medal to all active duty soldiers in a combat zone," said Serna, a man without a big bank ac count behind him. "I know in my heart if I got addresses for $125,000 worth of medals, I know the money would be there. Every time we get low on funds, somebody is there with the money." This is the first medal minted by Tribal people for Veterans, according to Serna, and though there are no regu lations for Native-issued medals, Serna said, "We are seeking to get it autho rized by the military." Without any artistic training, Serna designed the medals himself. He is retailing them for $24.95 each with the $10 wholesale price tag for buying 10 or more. Any profits, he said, go to pay for medals already minted, and to defray costs for those still to be made. Serna has lived his post-military years as a private investigator with the Marion County public de fender. Locally, recipients have included Tribal Council Vice Chair Reyn Leno, Tribal Council member Jan D. Reibach and LaBonte. "Lot of times it brings tears to your eyes," said LaBonte. "For many of these people, this is the most important medal they have received. Most all of these medal lion recipients are like that. "And lots more people men and women are looking for these medals." "For me," said Reyn Leno, "it completes my feelings as a Vet eran to be honored by the United States, now to be honored by your own people." One Veteran, a Tribal Elder, re called LaBonte, said when he re ceived the medal that he had known about it when he was just a boy, but didn't know if he'd see it before he passed on. Even though the medal was not physically created until 2002.
