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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2007)
OCTOBER 1,2007 Smoke Signals 5 THrn foe's 'ffaaDD-ipItosis apipirs3)dh) More than 100 came to Grand Ronde to share ideas that are working to combat use of highly addictive drug Photo by Ron Karten Rob Bovett, legal counsel for the Oregon Narcotics Enforcement Association and author of Oregon's meth lab chemical control laws, presented the conference wrap-up, describing the wide-ranging solutions available when communities, social service and police agencies work together. By Ron Karten Smoke Signals staff writer To deal with the local meth epi demic, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde is doing several things right, including reaching out to partners in other Tribal commu nities and beyond them as well. More than 100 people attended and almost two dozen speakers were fea tured during the two day, Tribe sponsored conference "Tools for Healing and Meth Prevention" held Sept. 13-14 at Spirit Mountain Casino. "We set it up as a conference to get information to the community and the partners we work with," Dave Fullerton, director of Social Services for the Tribe and confer ence coordinator, said. "It's a full-phase approach that deals with enforcement, treat ment, prevention and recovery. If you leave any of these out, there will be a lapse in the program. The big thing now is to bring people to gether to learn from each other." Of the groups that need to be on board to make a "full-phase" approach work, schools are "the resistance point," said Mike Staf ford, a member of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission and staff member for the Governor's Meth Task Force. "(Schools) say it's not a problem, and when you consider that the average person using meth is a seventh-grade dropout, you can see why the schools would say that," Stafford said. The preventioneducation com ponent has to be taught in grade schools. Hardcore meth users are already gone by middle school, he said. "We know meth users as young as 8 years old," Stafford said. At every stage, the battles against meth abuse have run up against limitations. "They're getting their children back the same day they get out," said Trish Jordan, board member and program coordinator for Portland-based Red Lodge Transition Services, which serves Indian wom en leaving incarceration for meth use. "They can't even take care of themselves (at that point)." Recovery is also hampered be cause many meth addiction pro grams allow from three to six months for recovery when experi ence is showing that meth users need to be clean for six to nine months before treatment will have a chance of success. Another recovery limitation in volves Veterans Affairs hospitals, which won't take a patient while he's using, said Ray Lewallen, op erations manager for the Soldier Reintegration Team serving mostly Oregon National Guard patients. He attended the conference to look for empty beds, like some of those at the Tribe's six-person Meth Transition Center. "Hope fully, the beds here will help," Lewallen said. Connec tions, or the lack of them, among the different participants in the battle against illicit methamphetamine use ranked high on the list of needs that the conference addressed. "The reality," said Joe Martineau (Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Fond du Lac Reservation), Post Treat ment Services coordinator for the Tribe, "is we're all connected." The conference directed the dis cussion toward resources available from involved agencies and assess ments about how those resources are being used. To make a change, said Detective Mike Holsapple, lead investigator of the Polk County Interagency Narcotics Team, "all the components of detection, education and commu nity" must be working together. Addiction, once treated as a dis crete group of acute (one-time) prob lems today is being approached as a chronic (never-ending) problem. This treatment change requires researchers to fight risk factors (broken fami lies, negative experiences, historical trauma) and provide pro tective factors (reinvesting in culture). Risk factors are harder to root out. "It's easier to mobi lize people to protect than to eliminate risk factors," said keynote speaker Dr. Dale Walker, dfrector of the Center for Ameri can Indian Health, Education and Research at Oregon Health and Science University. National Native American gang specialist Chris Grant provided input on the Grand Ronde area's fight with gangs. He described the connection between gangs in a community and drugs. He also led a training session for the Spirit Mountain Casino Security Depart ment. (For more on Grant, see the Smoke Signals profile in the June 1, 2007, issue). The conference featured dozens of experts from the fields of education, treatment, law enforcement and community, including a number of former meth addicts. The conference offered key note speakers and break-out sessions focus ing on the best practices in each of these areas. Meth, ac cording to the Office of Na tional Drug Control Policy, is a highly ad dictive stimu lant that can be injected, snorted, smoked or swallowed. Meth users feel a short, intense "rush" when the drug is initially taken. The immediate effects of meth include increased activity and decreased appetite. However, long-term meth abuse can cause addiction, anxiety, in somnia, mood disturbances and violent behavior. Additionally, psy chotic symptoms such as paranoia, hallucinations and delusions (such as the sensation of bugs crawling under the user's skin) can occur. The psychotic symptoms can last for months or years after meth use has ended, the federal agency wrote on its Web page. Of all American subgroups, Indi ans show the highest percentage in meth abuse, Walker said, with 74 percent of Indian Country problems stemming from it. At the same time, he said, the Grand Ronde approach to fighting meth use is a good model for others to use. The Tribe has modeled "full phase" meth fighting tools as part of its effort, according to Walker, by entering into statewide efforts, reaching out and partnering; part nering within the Tribe as well, spreading the word on meth edu cation throughout the Tribe; and showing its willingness to work with non-Tribal support systems within the community. "We've been putting it out there," said Fullerton, "that we want to work together. We're not going to resolve it alone. We're modeling the behavior that we're looking for (throughout the community)." The conference was largely funded by the Administration for Native Americans. A $598,000, two-year grant also funded the start-up of the Meth Transition House and Post Treatment Ser vices program. D "We know meth users as young as 8 years old." Mike Stafford, Member of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission and Governor 's Meth Task Force NOTONMYUEZ!
