The Lummi Nation, a community of more than 5,500 people located on a small slice of land on the US west coast extending into the Salish Sea, has faced addiction issues on the reservation for decades. It has affected everything from crime to housing, families and foster care. And for over half a century, tribal leaders have been working to rid the reservation of drug abuse, explained Deanna Point, Scott’s interim director at Care.
“We just start getting our hands on one [drug], and then right after that, once we think we’re just finally getting our hands and getting some kind of relief from this drug that’s in our community, a new one comes,” she said.
In the last several years the situation has become particularly acute, due to the prevalence of highly addictive methamphetamine and then, most recently, lethal pure fentanyl, or some combination of the two.
On the Lummi reservation, Point described fentanyl as “the worst one that we’ve seen yet” due to how deadly it is. When it is combined with methamphetamine the risk of an overdose can be even greater.
These high numbers within the Indigenous community can be linked to historical trauma in the form of community massacres, forceful relocation and boarding schools, explained Dr Tommy K Begay, research assistant professor at the University of Arizona’s department of psychiatry and a member of the Navajo Nation. The trauma, he explained, resulted in maladaptive coping behaviors that sometimes include drug use, which were passed on to new generations.
Today, the Lummi Nation uses a combination of culturally based healing and western-based substance abuse treatment approaches, all centered on love and compassion.
The outpatient treatment program, Care, is housed in a small, one-story cream building. It offers group sessions that range from one hour a week to nine, medication-assisted treatment plans, and specialized programs for those who are pregnant or have children.
Group sessions typically include clients sharing a meal together, an important component of the Lummi Nation’s cultural identity, explained Point. There is also a culture room inside the facility, where clients often spend hours beading, cedar weaving and carving.
“What makes our program unique is we focus a lot on our tradition and cultural values. And some people come in, they might have roots to their cultural identity, but most of them aren’t going to have roots to who they are,” she said.
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