TC official: Meth on the reservation
will be worse than alcoholism

By Pamela G. Dempsey
Diné Bureau

KAYENTA — Methamphetamines are no longer the second highest drug threat in the nation; rising above cocaine and marijuana, it climbed to number one last year.

"It's not a big city problem," said Special Federal Officer J.J. Grzelak, Federal Bureau of Investigations in Pine Top. "It's everywhere."

Grzelak joined other law enforcement agencies and the tribe's Department of Behavioral Health to educate Kayenta Wednesday on how methamphetamines, nicknamed meth, are affecting the Navajo Nation.

Citing statistics which indicate the Show Low area has more meth addicts per capita than Phoenix, Grzelak said "Ignorance and complacency are meth's greatest advocates."

And meth has a lot of advocates on the Navajo Nation.

Cheap to produce, easy to hide, and a big payoff for both dealers and users, meth has found its way into the Navajo Nation, affecting those as young as 8 years old to 75 years old.

"Meth is probably the worst drug on the surge the reservation has ever seen," said Greg Adair, senior criminal investigator for the tribe's Tuba City Criminal Investigation Department. "It's going to be worse than alcoholism."

Known as the "poor man's cocaine", meth, a man-made stimulate, produces a longer high than cocaine, lasting anywhere from two to 14 hours compared to cocaine's high, which can lasts up to 30 minutes. Manufacturers can produce $3,000 in product for as little as $80 at home.

Because meth affects the central nervous system, users believe they can get more done during its "rush" and can stay up for as many as 15 days without sleep and little food.

Unfortunately, meth can also cause strokes, paranoia, and permanent brain damage. Unlike alcohol and marijuana abuse, meth is not a "male problem", Adair said.

"Almost as many women arrested on meth as men," he said.

Meth is popular with women because its users lose weight and with men because its users believe it increases their athletic ability.

While meth is believed to be sold on the Navajo Nation and not yet manufactured, Hopi Police Offer Emerson Ami said there have been two house fires on the Hopi Reservation as a result of a meth lab.

"There's a lot of people out there messing with the stuff," Ami said. "It's turning into a real epidemic that kind of caught everybody off guard."

The Hopi Tribe, unlike the Navajo Nation, have classified meth as a controlled substance and consider it illegal. But because it is a misdemeanor on the Hopi reservation, users and dealers get just up to 365 days in jail and $5,000 fine per offense.

The Navajo Nation has yet to go even that far.

Meth is not listed as a controlled substance under Navajo Nation Code 17. The Kayenta Meth Prevention Task Force is working towards outlawing the drug on the reservation. In the meantime, the United States Attorney's Office has assisted with meth cases on the reservation.

"It's crazy not to have laws against methamphetamines," said Cherelynn Manson, a substance abuse health educator for the tribe's Department of Behavioral Health.

Albert Tinhorn, group leader of the task force, said they're pushing the Navajo Nation Council to outlaw meth by the end of the fall session.

"Before they make another addiction legal (the gambling referendum), they need to make a law to take away an addiction," Tinhorn said.

So far, three chapters in the Western Agency have passed resolutions amending Title 17 to outlaw meth. A resolution will be presented to the Western Agency's quarterly meeting and then passed on to a willing council delegate to sponsor. The Department of Behavioral Health also plans a walk in October to push for the legislation.

"The more you learn about it, the worse it gets," Tinhorn said.

Kayenta's task force also plans to work with other task forces across the reservation as well as store owners to put "meth watch" labels near products commonly used in meth manufacturing.

"The overall message here is that we need to do something," Tinhorn said.