“Wo’okiye was’te qa wico zani o’wacin yuhapo”
Page 10
S
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Y
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“Prayer is the most powerful
medicine that’s out there, so to
answer the question, I would be
opposed (to) it.”
“We’ve seen what the opioid
problem did.”
“A lot of people got on the pills
and it was given out like candy at
IHS, giving it out like candy at the
VA, and now there’s a worldwide
problem with the opioid use, and so
I only see marijuana being more of
a problem than it would be a cure,
for us.”
Michael: “I think the really
interesting question ... Several years
ago, well, quite a few years ago
now, I was down at the Royal River
Casino and a lot of young guys,
Dakota guys, (one) came up to me
and was like, ‘Way to go. You did
right, that was cool.’”
“And I was wondering, what
the heck were they talking about? I
saw, later on, on KELO-land, there
was a Native American veteran,
disabled veteran from Cheyenne
River … protesting in Sioux Falls for
the legalization of marijuana, and he
thought that was me.”
“So I got credit for all that.”
“And when he left, I realized
though, that it brought up a point
at the time, the need for medical
marijuana.”
“And that there’s a lot of
injured warriors out there, there’s
a lot of injured people that rely on
marijuana as a medicine. And it
appears, from oh, many studies and
stuff that it’s beneficial to them. It
helps them cope with some of the
issues that they’re going through.”
“This is a very, very touchy
subject.”
“I, for one, for example, I’ll use
myself. “
“I’m very, very leery of altering
what I call my normal state of
mind.”
“I like who I am and where I
am, and where my spirit is today.”
“I won’t even try to get any
kind of pain medications, or
anything that’s going to alter the
way I see and feel things.”
“It’s taken me a long time to
get there, and marijuana, I think,
is like bringing another spirit into
your being.”
“Other people may need it.”
“I’m not going to be a judge of
that.”
“But to have or to profit
from, or get into a business with
recreational or medical marijuana, I
think that’s something that probably
should go on the ballot.”
“Let the people decide. Let
them consider it. They know what’s
going on in their families, and let
that be the guiding light on this
issue.”
“And I’m not trying to cop out
of this one way or the other.”
“I know that Colorado made so
much money from marijuana taxes
that they gave a huge rebate to all its
citizens.”
“It was very lucrative, from that
perspective.”
“But we need to let the
(people) determine the direction it
should go in.”
Martha: “I think for those of
you who don’t know the difference
between medical or recreational,
recreational is if you’re just using
it just to get high, okay? And
medicinal, for the most part, is
something that you have to get a
prescription from your primary
care provider … it’s not like you’re
just going to the dispensary and
get it because you have autism
or something, you got to have a
prescription … from your doctor.”
“Well, we’ve got a question
that’s on the other end of that other
spectrum, it says, ‘We have a big
meth problem on our reservation.
Grandparents are getting abused
by these children, their children,
on meth, and they’re consequently
ending up having to raise their
grandchildren, and nothing seems
to get accomplished. We need
support groups for our elders. I’d
like to know how you would deal,
or how you’re going to handle this
situation?’”
Eddie: “I’ve been to a few
Exec candidates forum
Continued from Page 9
elderly meetings. I know this has
come up since I’ve been sitting in
office. What I’ve done so far, is
I’ve been working with Bonnie in
the Elderly Affairs office, redoing
policies and procedures and actually
doing job descriptions, and I’ve been
asked by the elderly to try to get sort
of a point of contact for a person
where they feel that there’s an elder
that is being abused.”
“I know it’s a sad time with the
meth epidemic, but I’d like to say
that I’ve been in office, and Myrna, I
know she’s been on the team. We’ve
got three grants come in within this
last month. A LAUNCH grant,
a Family Tree grant, and a Tribal
Opioids Response (TOR) grant.”
(See this week’s Sota for information
about the TOR grant.)
Eddie: “The first two grants,
it’s dealing with young kids, so what
we’re trying to do is start young
before it becomes a problem.”
“And what the Tribal Opioid
Response is ... Naloxone, I don’t
know if you guys know what that
is, but it’s a drug that if somebody
looks like they’re overdosing, it’ll
kick their adrenaline in and help
them from being an overdose.”
Eddie: “But as for the question
… elderly abuse, I’ve been …
working with the elderly, changing
policy and trying to get a point of
contact for any person to contact
this person to where the Elderly
Affairs program will go out to
the residential area and check on
the elderly. And there has been a
few instances where it’s happened
already, and it has been checked in
on.”
Myrna: “But nothing was
done.”
“I know that is a problem.”
“Like Eddie said, you know,
we’re well aware of it and there’s
so many grandparents raising not
only their grandchildren, but their
great-grandchildren, and we don’t
have any data that I know of on how
many.”
“But that is one thing I
would be interested in, is data
collection, on how many are out
there, how many grandparents are
raising grandchildren and great-
grandchildren.”
“A lot of the parents, the reason
they aren’t raising them, is because
they were struggling with their
addiction to meth.”
“We do need … we don’t have
enough resources ... right now we
have Dakotah Pride, who has a
proven track record for treatment,
in-patient treatment, but we don’t
have a large enough facility, and we
don’t have a meth unit.”
“With the high growth in the
population here, and the high rate
of addiction here, we do need a
larger treatment center and we need
a family counseling center.”
“That’s what I would like to
see … a family counseling center
and a crisis counseling center that
operated 24/7.”
“… the grandparents
need help, and I know Child
Protection can offer some services
to the grandparents, as far as
funding to help them care for the
grandchildren, that’s what I was told
at one time.”
“But yes, we are working hard
to address the addiction issues on
reservation, and the grandparents,
you know, I would like to meet with
all the grandparents if I had that
opportunity to do that, and create
something for them, a support
system.”
“Because it’s hard for them.
They have to be the grandparent and
the parents at the same time, and
that’s not easy and they don’t always
have all the resources they need for
clothing, food and whatnot.”
[Crosstalk/noise in the audio.]
Lisa: “This is an excellent
question … some of the districts
that I went to … I feel like our
addiction in the community is the
result of something deeper.”
“It is a result of trauma, it is a
result of our people just trying to
cover up for what they’re feeling …
so I feel like this is a deep issue, it’s
big and it’s going to take all of us
doing our part.”
“We have a new mental health
program, and they came through
our districts and they talked to us
about some of the resources that
they have, and they have support
groups and their meeting, and I
think we need to get together in our
districts and we need to promote
that program and we need to
stand behind it. We need to find
survivors who have been in it and
who’ve found their way out and
support them and help them create
their own circles and spheres of
influence.”
“Because we have success
stories here.”
“It sounds bad, but we do have
success stories and we need to find
them because mental health can’t do
it alone.”
“Mental health can’t do it
alone, it’s going to take all of us, and
it’s going to take us who have gotten
out of it or who are in it to help
those who are and get them out.”
“It’s a collective effort, and I
just feel like it’s deeper. It’s about
healing, and our people need to
heal, and they can heal many
different ways.”
“Each issue is going to be
different, and it’s going to be
circumstantial, and we just need
to educate and talk about it and
support each other.”
Dave: “I guess I’m
misunderstanding the question.”
“Is the meth in general, or
is that how would you handle a
situation with grandparents who are
being abused by those that are living
in their family that are using meth?”
“It’s a daily challenge. Part of
the problem we have here is that
when grandparents ... because we
have responded, we get grandparents
that come in, maybe they don’t go
to the Elderly Affairs Committee or
a Council rep, but they come in and
see us Executives.”
“I speak for myself, we get the
Chief of Police involved, Criminal
Investigator, but when it comes time
for kunsi or grandpa to actually sign
the report, they don’t want to.”
“So that’s up to each of you as
individuals in your home.”
“We got to keep fighting this,
and again it’s a day by day issue.”
“I don’t think there’s
one solution that’s going
to fix everything with the
methamphetamine problem and
how grandparents are being abused,
because it’s not just meth anymore.”
“There’s heroin here, and it’s
the opioids.”
“We’ve got a lot of people
coming in, saying that their pills
were taken.”
“Dakotas will come in, ‘He
took the pills out of my cabinet
and the IHS won’t give me another
refill,’ or the VA won’t give me
another refill,’ and so how do you fix
that? How would you handle that?”
[Crosstalk/noise in the audio.]
Dave: “It’s really tough to get
a handle on, so how we’re handling
it currently is just day by day, trying
to get the grandparents to sign that
affidavit, and that’s a tough thing to
do, right?”
“Because that’s your family, but
if that doesn’t happen, we just try
to talk to them and counsel them.
I’m not the expert at counseling, but
that’s the best we can do.”
Ella: “The candidates all gave
some excellent responses to that, and
there is no right or wrong answer,
because like Lisa said, it has to do
with trauma.”
“Any form of addiction has
to do with trying to suppress
something that happened in our
lives, and so it is a healing process
and there’s no right answer for
that, either, because each of us as
individuals deal with things in a
different way. When we hurt, some
of us get angry and hurt others, or
some go into depression and some
use drugs and alcohol to cope, as a
coping mechanism.”
“During my years at Planning,
I was asked to work with the
troubled elderly to write an Elderly
Abuse grant.”
“I talked to the elderly
departments, what kind of data are
you collecting, do you log in any of
these phone calls? And that wasn’t
happening.”
“Well, what about here? So,
you know, I put a little box over
here, and for, I believe it was one
week, when they came in to get their
elderly coupons, we tried to put it
that no one could see their answer
and there just wasn’t the data.”
“When I went to Tribal Police
and I asked, ‘How many reports
do you have of elderly abuse?’ And
there was nine.”
“We know that it’s happening,
but like Dave said, that’s our family.
So how do we approach it in a good
way that we’re taking all of those
things into account?”
“How are we going to call in
our son or our granddaughter that
they’re doing things?”
“It’s hard for family members.
Even with my mom, I’m telling her
to call on a family member to put
them into treatment, and she won’t
do it.”
“And it’s hard … tough love is
hard. That’s why they call it tough
love.”
“Being in a leadership position,
you’re put in a difficult position of
trying to make decisions for people
that should be made as families.”
“So I guess there is really no
right or wrong answer. Trying to
collect data is about all that you
can do … to try and help people
and possibly revising some of the
programs that we have that are made
to help families….”
Floyd: “I don’t want to repeat
what the Chairman had said, but as
a Housing director for four years,
you ran into it a lot. A lot, a lot.”
“The grandchildren are
using drugs in the house, and
you’re supposed to kick out the
grandparent also.”
“According to the rules
of the Housing Authority, if
you’re allowing somebody to use
something in your house, you
should be evicted too.”
“But how do you evict an old
lady or a grandpa on what their
grandkids are doing?”
“So it’s a tough spot to be in, as
Housing director.”
“Do you kick the grandparent
out?”
“I didn’t like to do it, but we
did have to do it when it happened
repeatedly.
“Some of the kids got hurt, but
... that’s a tough spot to be in.”
“If you can’t maintain a house,
then there’s people in line that are
waiting for a house.”
“There’s strict rules, there’s
leases that we have to go by.”
“But they’re all there yet.”
[Crosstalk/noise in the audio.]
Michael: “Without repeating
what’s already been said … I
know that we need to address
this problem, and the problem
of the children of those that are
addicted that are sent away, either
to treatment or incarceration, is the
grandparents are the ones that love
them so much that they give up all
their resources to try and save their
takojas. And in so doing, they put
themselves at risk, at risk of hunger
and other issues of poverty.”
Michael: “We probably need to
put together a team of social workers
and psychologists and others that
are familiar with this phenomenon,
and come up with some solutions or
recommended solutions.
“On the way out here, I was
thinking about children that ... over
the weekend, I heard of a friend who
got picked up, is a mother, she has
children and she was thrown in jail
for ingestion, … in the meantime,
what happened to the children?
One of the children was staying
with a relative that was babysitting
who invited him home, who made
sure they were taken care of, went
to school, things like that. But you
know, they’re going to intervene,
and she’s going to go to treatment
or incarceration and those children
are either going to go into foster
care or go to the grandparents or
someplace.”
“And I always think, ‘I wonder
if the Tribe has considered, or we
should consider, having a home or
some type of facility that provides
a family atmosphere for children
like this, in emergency situations.’
Someplace where they can be safe,
taken care of … watch out for
them.”
“We need to develop a
database on all our elders, and all
our members and really study it to
know the living environment and
condition that they’re in. And I
think we should be able to identify
problem areas and start trying to
become proactive and dedicate
some of our resources to all these
negative things that are going on as
a result of the drug problem that’s
here today. It’s an epidemic, and it’s
not going to go away. It’s only going
to get worse, because that’s the way
these things are.”
Ella: “I just wanted to bring up
that I think that we need to start a
support group for our elders if they
don’t have it already, and educate
our elders on the ways to protect
themselves and not to be afraid. Not
to be afraid to get the help that they
need to be able to turn their kids or
their loved ones over to get the help
that they need. Because without
the grandparents being able to be
knowledgeable on how to protect
themselves, they’re not going to
be able to ever get away from the
abuse.”
“Be able to ever get away from
the abuse because they’re going to
always be ... it’s always going to be
there.”
“And so I think that making
a support group for elders and
educating them would be a really
good source ... a way to start on how
to fix the situation, and try to get
their loved ones the help that they
need.”
“It’s not trying to get your
loved ones locked up for anything
like that; it’s just trying to get them
the help that they need so that
our elders and our loved ones are
protected.”
“Just for your information,
this man named Anthony Puregold
wrote a really, really, really
outstanding article about this …
trauma, and he said that it’s in our
DNA from way back.”
Martha: “This question, again,
is kind of the opposite of what you
all answered. This person doesn’t
think social services alone will
reduce drug and alcohol abuse.
We need good jobs and better
healthcare. What will you do to
address these needs?”
Dave: “... Indian Health
Service took $2.2 million of our
H&C monies, transferred it out of
our area ... excuse me, they kept it
within the area, went to another
tribe. They told (Eddie) about it,
and he was Health and Human
Service Board, Chairman of the
Board there, when that happened.
We fought for it; we got it back.
But I wanted to share with you
that we have been wanting to try to
compact our health service so we
can take control of it. And there are
a lot of people out there that won’t
give us ... won’t give all of us, not
just leadership; you’re not giving
yourselves, or your family, or the
entire Tribe an opportunity to see if
it would work. We can always give it
back. It’s in writing. It’s part of the
law.”
“So to better the healthcare
system, it’s my belief ... there’s been
a couple of us that have tackled
this ... we put on a general council
meeting. We try to get our Tribal
members to believe that we could
manage our own health. Until that
happens, Indian Health Service
is managing our health and any
leadership that’s elected, anybody
that’s elected to leadership, I’m
confident they will continue to
fight the fight with Indian Health
Service for better medicine, better
healthcare.”
“Jobs? Wasn’t my idea to build
a grocery store. That wasn’t my
idea.”
“It was built in the 70s, when
my dad was Chairman.”
“It was right out here; it was
successful.”
“And things ... he got out of
office, I don’t know what happened;
it went downhill.”
“I remember going to district
meetings. I remember hearing Mike
talking about it in my district. We’re
from the same district. This is back
in 12, 13, and 14, going to school
at NDSU, that the Tribe built some
grocery store so we could create
jobs, we could sustain that Tribal
dollar that’s leaving our community;
that’s true sovereignty, when you
have control ... not that we’re
dictating, but you keep that dollar
here to help support those jobs so
that they’re sustaining.”
“We create jobs and we see a
turnover rate at the Magic, and even
at our grocery store.”
“People don’t want to go to
work; they just don’t want to go to
work.”
“So, you know, we can
continue to create jobs; that’s this
whole ... it wasn’t my idea.”
“I remember a gentlemen,
Albert White Hat, Pine Ridge, that
started (one) a way long time ago.
And I remember our district talking
about it many, many years ago, but
all people did was just talk about it.
We’re actually doing it.”
“And hopefully this creates
jobs and another revenue stream so
that we can help deal with this drug
problem.”
“That’s my answer to that
question.”
“I think it’s not just a social
service for the Tribal Secretary,
whoever is elected.”
“It’s got to be a team effort
with all the stakeholders involved,
and creating jobs.”
“We are creating jobs, but
some of our Tribal people aren’t
applying for those jobs, so that’s a
tough one.”
“Better health, I believe in
compacting.”
“I think we kind of all
answered the question in regards to
meth and drug addiction. Going
back to job creation, I think a part
of it has to do even with comparing
our high school kids who are
entering the work force; our college-
age kids, helping them to develop
good work ethics.”
“Creating our own managers.”
Ella: “My biggest push, I
think … in the last few years, we’ve
purchased a lot of acreage that is ag
land.”
“We would have been prime
farm community, but we don’t farm
ourselves.”
“… I think that that would be
job creation; for example, White
Earth, they have an agreement with
... or a contract with Green Giant,
and so their food is being packaged
by Green Giant.”
“And I think that we should
take a look at what they’re doing,
and try to create something like that
here for our Tribe, and our people ...
our Tribal members.”
“You know, we do have Tribal
members that are farmers, and they
are ranchers. And they have that
experience.”
“So, I think ag is a move.”
“I think hemp, you know,
thinking outside the box.”
“We went with the hemp
project, and that could lead to
manufacturing.”
“Right now we’re just in
our research phase of it, but with
hemp you can manufacture a lot of
things, from rope, to clothing, to
hempcrete, to insulation, building
bricks, oils, shampoos, lotions,
tennis shoes, … hats, anything you
can think of, you can make out of
hemp.”
“The government even pushed
and promoted hemp back during
World War II, and so there’s federal
hemp out there.”
“I think … that we are making
progress in those areas.”
“It’s going to be some years
before we actually see manufacturing
of our hemp.”
“… these things take time; it
doesn’t happen overnight.”
“One thing that I did
want to mention, though, with
our healthcare, the Trump
administration really threatens our
current healthcare.”
“I did make some notes on
that, with having the workforce
requirement.”
“I think our Tribe really needs
to become more proactive instead of
reactive.”
“We got a copy of the White
House ... or the blueprints for the
White House Trump administration
back in 2016, when he first came
into office, but we didn’t do
anything about it.”