Native Americans: Methamphetamine
According to surveys performed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, over 70 percent of Indian tribes identified methamphetamine as the drug that poses the greatest threat to their reservation, and also estimated that at least 40 percent of violent crime cases investigated in Indian country involved methamphetamine in some capacity. Following are quotes and information collected regarding meth use among Native Americans.
Methamphetamine is killing our people and devastating our communities," President of the National Congress of American Indians, Joe Garcia, stated when he began his February 2006 announcement of a Call for Action to combat methamphetamine use and drug trafficking in Indian country. Indeed, methamphetamine use is affecting American Indian and Native Hawaiians communities across the United States.
In Arizona, San Carlos Apache Chairwoman Kathleen Katchyan spoke about the impact of meth on her own tribe: "There are 120 suicide attempts and 84 actual suicides in my tribe alone. Some of these were directly related to the abuse of meth. Last year, in my tribe, 63 babies were born addicted to crystal meth. This has to change."
Navajo Nation Public Safety Committee Chairperson Hope MacDonald-Lonetree, described the meth situation at Navajo: "Meth, also known as 'G,' is the new monster we are facing in contemporary times here on Navajo. Meth has become such a horrendous problem here on Navajo that it is crippling our Navajo families . . . It almost doubles the violent crime." (Reported by Kathy Helms, Din Bureau).
Navajo Nation police officers executed a federal arrest warrant on March 28 and took a Navajo grandmother, 81, her daughter, 61, and granddaughter, 39, into custody for dealing methamphetamine in the small Navajo community of Delcon, Arizona.
President Shirley, Navajo Nation President commented, "As Navajos, we look up to our elders for all of our teaching, and it's wrong for her to be doing this. Our elders have always given us good teachings so that we can maintain what we have and what we're losing. Who knows how many families there people have harmed?" President Shirley added, "This is a very bad example, and this shows what meth can do."
Methamphetamine use is now a widespread American concern. The American Academy of Pediatrics, reported in its AAP Fact Sheet, "Methamphetamine Use," that in 2004 over 583,000 Americans reported using methamphetamine within the last month [from the survey] with an average of 300,000 new users each year. In 2003, 7.6 percent of high school students reported using methamphetamine one or more times. In 2005, 3.1 percent of 8th graders, 4.1 percent of 10th graders, and 4.5 percent of 12th graders reported use of methamphetamine in their lifetime; and that there are more methamphetamine-related emergency room visits than for any other drug.
