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Grandmother's arrest prompts elderly Diné to seek
meth education
By Natasha Kaye Johnson
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — After the meth bust in Dilkon that involved an 81-year
old grandmother, many communities and elderly people have expressed that
they are scared of being arrested because their grandchildren may be making
meth without them knowing.
"They want presentations so they know about meth," said Lynette
Willie, Public Information Officer for the Navajo Nation Department of
Behavioral Health Services. Ironically enough, the DBHS program just completed
an educational video this past week in the Navajo language that will do
this.
The video has already been copied to DVDs and been passed out to chapter
houses, senior citizen centers, and any other entities requesting them.
The program is planning to get the DVD put on VHS this week for people
and organizations who do not have the equipment to play DVDs.
"We ended up being asked by five senior citizen centers for the video
(this past week)," said Willie. The Department of Behavioral Health's
focus is to educate people on what meth is, how they can identify it,
and how they can help put a stop to it. While alcohol remains a plague
on the Navajo Nation, Willie believes that meth could be even more devastating.
"This is possibly the greatest modern day enemy (to the Navajo people),"
said Willie. "This has the potential to be worse than alcohol."
While meth is a rising problem in the United States, it is even a more
prevalent problem among communities of color, including American Indians.
According to the Assistant Surgeon General, Director of Indian Health
Service Charles W. Grimm, D.D.S., M.H.S.A., American Indians and Alaska
Natives are 720 percent more likely to die from alcohol than the rest
of the United States. And if meth has the potential to be worse, the nation
is facing a huge crisis.
Char James, DBHS Program Project Specialist specifically for meth, realized
that a lot of people didn't understand English, and therefore could not
understand the information being sent out on meth videos and pamphlets
in English. This obviously created a barrier in education, and in light
of this, DBHS put together a script, where James educates people about
meth in Navajo.
"We can't just distribute printed material," said Willie. In
2004, a video titled, "'G'-Methamphetamine on the Navajo Nation,"
won the Best Public Service Award at the 20th Annual American Indian Film
Festival in 2004. The video was produced and sponsored by Tuba City Regional,
Health Care Corporation, and Health Promotion Program. Now there is a
video available to those who speak Navajo.
The video, which is over an hour long, goes into detail showing people
the different types of paraphernalia that is used to take meth, such as
light bulbs and pipes. In the video, James teaches people what symptoms
and signs that meth causes and what type of objects that are suspicious.
The video emphasizes how some bags containing meth may look harmless and
even sometimes have Walt Disney characters or cartoons on them, but contain
the drug. It also educates people about slang words used for meth.
"If their grandchild is talking about ice in the middle of the summer,
then they are not talking about winter," said Willie.
Joining forces to combat meth
James has been doing presentations all over the reservation since August
2004, and Willie estimates that over 80,000 people on the Navajo Nation
have been educated so far.
"We'll hit even more people (with the video)," said Willie.
With Internet access available now through OnSat in every chapter house
across the reservation, Willie said communities can also download videos
and Powerpoint presentations on meth.
Because of the large size of the Navajo Nation, DBHS has joined forces
with entities, such as the Navajo Housing Authority, the Navajo Nation
police, chapter house communities, schools, and senior citizen centers.
With only 188 DBHS employees and over 180,000 people on the Navajo Nation,
the program needs all the help it can get.
Some communities have taken upon it themselves to form a task force to
help combat meth. According to Willie, there are currently five task force
units across the Navajo Nation, including Tuba City, Fort Defiance, Dilkon,
Shiprock, and Chinle. There were 15 total task forces across the nation
two years ago, but the numbers have trickled down since. DBHS has plans
to revamp some of the task forces that have become dormant, such as the
Gallup task force.
In January 2004, meth became especially prevalent in the Tuba City area.
A surgeon at Tuba City Hospital was seeing numerous patients with unusual
heart complications. When the surgeon realized that the cause was meth,
he immediately contacted DBHS to begin steps towards addressing the issue.
Because of these heart complications, Willie said that 17 people in the
Tuba City area alone died from the substance.
Around this same time, Marcus Tully of the Navajo Housing Authority also
started noticing more social problems with the tenants, such as violent
behavior. However, at that time, nothing could be done to address meth
head-on because it was not against the law to use or sell the substance.
This is when the entities began to examine the issue closely, search for
solutions and push the law to legislation.
"There's a lot of use in more remote areas," said Willie. Willie
said that many Navajo people initially thought that the problem was in
Window Rock because it is closer to border towns where people had more
access to the drug. But after visiting chapter houses across the reservation,
people began to speak up and realize the problem did exist in their community.
Willie said because people are using meth within their homes, they are
harder to bust.
As far as officials can tell, meth is not being made on the reservation,
but is being brought in from cities like Phoenix and Albuquerque. People
buy an "eight ball" from the city and sell it for three times
the amount on the reservation, said Willie. So far, Willie said that there
have been no super labs, or labs of any sort, discovered on the Navajo
Nation. However, she said that people might be taking homemade labs apart
quickly when police officials are in their residential area.
For a long period of time, 13 years old was the youngest age on record
and 50 years old was the oldest for meth usage. Now, the youngest case
of documented meth usage is 8 years old and the oldest is 81 years old.
Meth is also being used as a date rape drug, where the substance is being
put into drinks.
"A lot of girls say they get it for free," said Willie. The
substance is also being injected by needle, which could potentially increase
the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.
Education for everyone
Along with educating communities, DBHS is also educating some business
entities, like hotels and motel, about meth paraphernalia. The Days Inn
hotel staff at St. Micheals was educated on paraphernalia that is used
to take meth, and the next day an employee recognized the items, and reported
it to the police, who arrested the individual.
"It's important for everyone to get educated," said Willie.
Before meth became illegal on the reservation, police officials did not
know that the chalky, white substance in pipes was meth.
"There is a lack of trained personnel" said Willie. As part
of the program, testimonies and interviews with current meth users, previous
meth users, and family members of meth users has been aired on KTNN and
other radio stations. There have also been a series of one-hour segment
shows where people talk about their negative experience with meth.
In an interview, a woman states her shock when she realizes that a judge
in court did not recognize the sign and symptoms of meth that her husband
was showing during a trial hearing. This was before meth was against the
law, but now people are becoming more aware.
"People get empowered by the education," said Willie. Since
people have become more educated on the issue, Willie said there have
been more Navajo families who have reported meth use in their community.
The DBHS plans to help implement legislative changes that would ultimately
help educate youth. The program wants school age children in kindergarten
to learn about meth and how to say no to drugs in general, especially
since meth usage is occurring in schools. Willie said one of the pueblo
tribes passed a law that makes meth education in grade schools necessary.
"This is really, really dangerous stuff," said Willie. If the
highly addictive drug is used on a regular basis, it can cause the body's
natural pleasure hormones to be shut down completely, making it impossible
for the body to create natural pleasure hormones at all. Because of this,
many users become clinically depressed and can only feel pleasure by taking
the drug. To make matters worse, many users are using meth with other
drugs.
"A lot of is combined," said Willie. Willie said that people
who use meth, also use other substances like alcohol and marijuana.
"We have people coming in saying they have a meth problem and say
that 'I need help'," said Willie. Because there are no treatment
centers on the reservation, people must go off Navajo to get treatment.
However, because there are not culturally sensitive treatment centers
in the city, people are not getting effective services. For example, Willie
said that some people seeking treatment speak only Navajo and cannot communicate
with an English speaking counselor.
Because the law for meth was not passed until 2005, there is not adequate
figures available to work with, making it more difficult for DBHS to identify
and tackle specific problems.
"There's not a lot of statistical information," said Willie.
"We're getting to that point."
Once more accurate statistics are available, DBHS can connect with other
entities to find ways to attack meth head-on. Indian Health Services has
some statistics on meth use, but Willie said they are not accurate and
are more likely higher than noted. She said when people go into treatment,
they are asked if they have used meth. Because many people are not familiar
with the term "meth" and are more familiar with slang terms
like "G" and "ice", they say that they have not taken
the drug.
Willie believes that the economy is part of the problem, and such things
as rising gas prices and raises by utilities is not helping.
"It's cheap to make and even cheaper to buy," said Willie.
Harvard recognizes accomplishments by DBHS
Despite the challenges and the tragedies that have occurred as a result
of meth usage, the DBHS has taken big steps to address meth on the Navajo
Nation.
The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development recognized
the accomplishment made by DBHS to step up to meth. Under the Harvard
project, DBHS is up for the "Honoring Nations" award. It is
an national award program that identifies and celebrates and shares outstanding
examples of tribal governance. Nominees are programs with initiatives
that are especially effective in addressing critical concerns and challenges
facing more than 560 Indian nations and their citizens. Honorees serve
as sources of knowledge and inspiration throughout Indian Country and
beyond.
Just this week, DBHS received notification that it is a semi-finalist
for the award, and if selected, will get $10,000 to continue its efforts
to fight meth. Willie said they have no idea who nominated them, but that
they feel honored just to be nominated in the first place.
Navajo culture and traditional beliefs continue to be the foundation that
DBHS uses to educate people on substance abuse. For meth education, the
program emphasizes to the Navajo people that cooking is used in traditional
ceremonies, like the puberty ceremony, Kinaldaa, and should not be used
for meth.
"Cooking is sacred," said Willie. "These things are opposite
of our Navajo way of life."
Willie said that because Navajo people traditionally lived in hogans,
they had to resolve disagreements and issues immediately since people
couldn't go to a room to be alone. If someone was sad or upset, the whole
family knew. Willie said this is why the concept of living is harmony
was so stressed, because that's how the Navajo people use to live.
"We were once great problem solvers," she said.
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Thursday
April 6, 2006
Selected Stories:
Mother Hubbard's Cupboards;
County searching for funding for Gallup Community Pantry
Grandmother's arrest prompts elderly
Diné to seek meth education
New dispatch center taking shape; Opening
targeted for April 25
City of Gallup pumps up support for
funding of local fitness center
Deaths
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