Confronting One of the Most Serious Problems Facing Indian Country

In May 2024, JAMA Psychiatry reported that between 2011 and 2021, more than 321,000 American children lost a parent to a drug overdose. In 2021, American Indian and Alaska Native families had the highest rate of parental overdoses at 187.1 deaths per 100,000, which was more than double the rate among white parents. These findings affirm Dr. Adam Strudevant’s conclusion that “the current drug epidemic is one of the most serious problems facing Native American Country.” A tribal member and a professor in the College of Menominee Nation’s (CMN’s) Substance Abuse Councilor Program, Strudevant is well versed in both the statistics and their human cost. Like many other tribal college and university (TCU) faculty teaching in substance abuse programs, Strudevant says addiction is “not a personal character defect, but rather a complex, multifaceted condition that arises from a combination of genetic, environmental, psychological, and social factors.” Yet for the past few generations, the rhetoric of addiction assessment suggests that it is a personal failing, necessitating punitive correction rather than counseling and support. TCUs refute reductive narratives by educating students with the compassion and skillset necessary to confront one of the greatest familial crisis issues of our lifetime.  

The punitive messaging of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), the most championed substance abuse education program in American history, continues to reverberate in the minds of its alumni. Yet Max Felker-Kantor’s book, Dare to Say No: Policing and the War on Drugs in Schools, reveals that DARE was actually a means to “define social issues as problems to be solved by law enforcement rather than health, education, or social welfare.” At its peak, DARE was taught by uniformed, armed officers in 75% of all classrooms in America, thereby bolstering the ethos of the police while framing drug use as a moral failure in the impressionable minds of its pupils. The fact that DARE is a failed drug resistance program is indisputable, but Felker-Kantor’s work explores how the country’s political leanings shaped populist thinking for decades. He lays bare the flawed beliefs that substance abuse can be curtailed by abandoning social services and fortifying criminal punishment. By illuminating the problematic history of drug education and corporal punishment, Felker-Kantor’s text helps readers imagine a path forward.

Strudevant affirms that substance abuse education should be left to trained educators. Thinking about TCU students, he states, “Native students are best taught about substance use disorders [SUDs] by educators who are culturally competent and have a deep understanding of both the specific cultural context of the students and the complexities of substance use disorders. Ideally, these educators would be either Native American professionals, culturally competent professionals, elders, or traditional healers. This combination ensures that the education is respectful, relevant, and effective in addressing the unique needs of Native students.” In effect, the model is not one of an individual versus a problem, but a community of support working to lift up the individual. At CMN, Strudevent observes, “Our program integrates Native cultural insights with contemporary psychological approaches to address substance use disorders holistically. We emphasize community support, cultural identity, and spiritual well-being as core components of recovery. Through this culturally tailored approach, we empower individuals to heal and thrive within their cultural framework.”

CMN is not the only TCU with a substance abuse program, and the threads that bind them are the channeling of efforts to center recovery in creating a more meaningful future. “Young people looking for a way to serve their tribes and communities will likely find counseling a satisfying and challenging career,” Strudevent says. “‘Healers’ have a long-standing history in Native American cultures and SUD counseling is a present-day iteration of that tradition. Individuals with ‘lived experience,’ including recovering addicts, should also seriously consider this field if or when they are ready, because they already possess an intimate depth of knowledge regarding the complex issues inherent in SUD counseling.”

Everyone reading this column has been affected by the epidemic of substance abuse, and the repercussions are having a lasting impact on our children. The mission of TCUs is to elevate the communities they serve, and the graduates of our schools’ substance abuse programs are working on the frontlines, offering lifesaving interventions. While the data is alarming, our schools are working to ensure fewer people become a tragic statistic. TCUs are offering a lifeline to those in need and are a beacon of hope for the future of Native nations.

Ryan Winn, PhD, teaches in the Liberal Studies Department at College of Menominee Nation.  

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in the Inquisitive Academic or any other opinion columns published by the Tribal College Journal (TCJ) do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TCJ or the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. 

Sources

Alltucker, K. (May 9, 2024). A Startling Number of Kids Lost Parents to Overdose.” USA Today. Retrieved from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2024/05/08/fentanyl-kids-lost-parent-overdose/73601121007/.

Felker-Kantor, M. (2024). Dare to Say No: Policing and the War on Drugs in Schools. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.