Advertise:   ads@blueearthmarketing.com   712.224.5420

National
Voice of America: Meth a crisis in Indian Country


"U.S. law enforcement considers methamphetamine the nation's number one drug problem. More than 12 million Americans have tried meth and 1.5 million are regular users. American Indian leaders say their communities have been especially hard hit by meth addiction.

"My people are in pain and are suffering from meth," Kathleen Wesley-Kitcheyan told the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. The chairwoman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, a community of 13,000 in Arizona said methamphetamine is "shattering families, endangering children and threatening the tribe's spiritual and cultural lives." It was impossible for her to get through her testimony without breaking into tears.

She told of babies born addicted to meth: one with a deformed heart and congenital health problems, another "with legs that are numb and can never be used."

"At the end of '05," Wesley-Kitcheyan said, "a nine-year-old meth user was brought to the San Carlos hospital with hallucinations and violent behavior. This is the youngest user that we have found, but we are concerned that kids even younger are using meth."

In her testimony, Wesley-Kitcheyan also told of a meth-addicted mother who stabbed her child to death, because she thought he was the devil; and a young man who tried to commit suicide by stabbing himself.

He was not the only one. On the San Carlos Reservation, where there were 101 suicide attempts in 2004, eight of the ten individuals who most recently attempted suicide were using meth."

Get the Story:
American Indian Communities Face Meth Crisis (Voice of America 4/11)

Related Stories:
On the Hill: Methamphetamine crisis on reservations (4/11)
Navajo senior citizens worried about methamphetamine (4/7)
Senate committee told of meth crisis in Indian Country (4/6)
Witness list for Senate hearing on methamphetamine (4/5)
Navajo Nation faces big threat in methamphetamine (4/5)
Senate Indian Affairs Committee meth hearing (4/3)
Methamphetamine crisis in Indian Country (3/31)
Attorney General Gonzales visits Yakama Nation (3/30)
Grandma, mom, daughter arrested for meth (3/30)
Border tribes face threats from migrants, drug trade (03/21)
Meth use tied to child abuse in Indian Country (3/16)
Lance Morgan: Indian Country now has the 'Meth Diet' (3/13)
Tribes face new danger in methamphetamine (3/7)
Update from NCAI winter session in Washington (02/28)
NCAI meets in Washington for winter session (02/27)
Drug trafficking ring busted on Pine Ridge Reservation (02/24)
Editorial: Canada to blame for reservation drugs (2/23)
Jourdain blasts comments in NYT story on drugs (2/21)
NY Times: Drug trafficking in Indian Country (2/20)
Tom Heffelfinger to step down as U.S. Attorney (02/15)
Garcia turns to Four Directions to guide Indian Country (02/03)
Tribal judge expected to enter plea in drug case (01/31)
St. Croix Band hears dangers of methamphetamine (01/19)
Chippewa Cree Tribe launches anti-meth campaign (01/12)
Tribe's public defender held on meth charges (01/04)
Tribe's public defender charged in meth conspiracy (12/21)
Lummi Nation burns house that was used to sell drugs (12/02)
Opinion: Tribes, state to combat meth problem (11/28)
Washoe Tribe joins fight against meth (11/01)
Crow Chairman: 'We have a meth epidemic' (10/26)
Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe hosts meth summit (10/07)
NAIHC expands program to deal with meth problem (09/29)
U.S. claims 400 meth arrests in 'Operation Wildfire' (08/31)
Washoe Tribe says meth invading communities (08/18)
Methamphetamine called a big problem for tribes (8/11)
Navajo Nation counts 32 active gangs, 500 members (08/05)
Reservation meth dealer given life prison sentence (07/08)
Nevada tribe concerned about methamphetamine use (06/22)
Plan seeks to combat meth problem in Montana (03/22)
Navajo police find methamphetamine in car (03/04)
Meth use a serious problem among Native youth (02/25)
Officials praise Navajo methamphetamine law (2/21)
Navajo Nation Council passes methamphetamine law (02/14)
Methamphetamine use explodes on reservation (2/7)
Idaho tribe to sign law enforcement agreement (02/03)
Navajo Nation peyote, meth legislation on hold (11/11)
Reservations called breeding ground for meth (11/08)
Navajo community worried about meth trafficking (10/20)
Film to expose dangers of meth on Navajo Nation (06/17)
Task force cracks drug rings in Indian Country (06/07)
Authorities bust drug ring on Oklahoma tribal land (05/06)
Calif. tribe, local police break up drug ring (01/29)
Tribe turns to banishment to battle drugs (1/19)