Substance abuse has long been a major problem on the rez. When I was growing up I mostly saw people abusing alcohol by drinking to get drunk. Seems like becoming highly intoxicated is always the goal, there’s no such thing as social drinking. People drink to get drunk. There is still rampant alcohol abuse on the rez and now other poisons have made their way into our lives; all are extremely dangerous to our people.

Prescription drug abuse is totally out of control on the rez. There is a lucrative black market for narcotics on most reservations nowadays. But it’s not just limited to the reservations. The widespread, illegal distribution of Hydrocodone, Tramadol, Morphine, Vicodin, Percocet, etc. has reached an all-time high.

There are many people across this country addicted to pain medication. Even the people who actually need to take these drugs for their pain become addicted to them. Some patients who are prescribed narcotics will sell their medicine to other people who use it to get high.

When humans become addicted to a controlled substance they will do anything to get it. Now we see people going from clinic to clinic seeing different doctors in order to get their fix. These are the true addicts because it seems they no longer care about what they are doing to their bodies.

Thus, I believe the health care systems we have in place need to prepare for more people who are going to experience renal failure. Expecting your kidneys to work for the rest of your life while you are overloading them with narcotics is unrealistic. Some of these addicts will go through an entire bottle of Percocet in one day. I have personally seen people eat prescription pills like they are those M&M candies.

Many people also do not realize how much acetaminophen is in both Percocet and Vicodin. An overdose of acetaminophen, commonly known as Tylenol, will cause your liver to shut down. This is especially true when you already have liver damage caused by cirrhosis or a previous acetaminophen overdose.

Any prolonged abuse of these prescription drugs will kill you. I want to see all local clinics willingly share medical information about their patients who obtain narcotic prescriptions. I know many people who can no longer get narcotics from the Indian Health Service pharmacy because of their past abuse record. So these patients go to off-reservations clinics to be seen in order to obtain a narcotic prescription.

I remember when I worked for a short time for the Rosebud Hospital and certain patients would come to clinic to be seen. Some of them had their medical charts flagged. It would say “drug-seeking behavior” on their records. Or certain patients would come in for clinic and the nurses would scramble to hide the doctor’s prescription pads! If forging a prescription to get narcotics isn’t drug seeking behavior then I don’t know what is.

Prescription drug abuse is not limited to adults. There are many teenagers who now take narcotics to get high. It’s just like the vicious alcohol cycle. If your children or grandchildren see you feeling good after popping or snorting some of those pills, they are going to want to try it too. Again, our health care systems must prepare for the onslaught of people needing dialysis treatments because eventually they will suffer renal failure from all the pills they are taking to get high.

There is even a word for people who are addicted to prescription narcotics. Search the Urban Dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com) for the word “pillbilly” and you will find many different definitions. And the “pillbilly” exhibits all the behavior of a true addict when they are seeking their next fix.

Have you ever been approached after having a major surgery by a family member who is addicted to prescription medication? Or maybe you just were given some pain medicine for a short term condition. Don’t let people know you have narcotics because they might just pester you into selling them. There are genuinely sick people on my rez who suffer excruciating pain because a family member stole all their medication.

And watch out. When these drug addicts cannot get their fix they will take it out on the people around them. Or they will sleep for days and claim their pain is just too much. But what they are really feeling is withdrawal from whatever drug they have been taking. Even worse is when they are so desperate they will take any kind of pills. They are putting their life in serious jeopardy.

I realize some people have chronic conditions and have to take medication on a regular basis. Still, the medicine they take affects their mood. They may also work at a job and then the people who they work with have to put up with them. And their condition is always their justification for their drug abuse.

I know of one woman who is a chronic pain pill popper. I don’t even know her personally but apparently she has made remarks about the public service positions I am appointed to. She works in a job where she has to deal with a large amount of the public on a daily basis. Just to look at her you can see her misery. I suppose some of the misery is from the pain but I bet a lot of it is from the pills she takes. Remember, once you are addicted to a drug you will find that it takes a much higher dose to achieve the painless feeling or high you are accustomed to.

I am not sure how to solve this problem short of taking all narcotics completely off the market. But that would only see people who actually need the medication, such as cancer patients, go without. I suppose one solution is for the clinics to crack down even harder on who gets narcotics.

Our children deserve to grow up in a drug-free society.

Vi Waln is Sicangu Lakota and an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. Her columns were awarded first place in the South Dakota Newspaper Association 2010 contest. She is Editor of the Lakota Country Times and can be reached through email at vi@lakotacountrytimes.com.

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