Bay Mills Indian Community files lawsuit against opioid manufacturers

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

By Acee Agoyo

The Bay Mills Indian Community has joined the ongoing fight against opioid manufacturers with a lawsuit in federal court.

In a complaint filed on Friday, the tribe accused more than two dozen corporations of contributing to a substance abuse crisis within the Ojibwe community in Michigan. The lawsuit seeks compensation to address the harms caused to its citizens and to its sovereignty.

“It is our hope that this lawsuit holds big corporations accountable for flooding our community with addictive drugs, and that it will result in resources we need to promote resilience and healing here at Bay Mills,” Chairman Bryan Newland said on Tuesday.

The opioid crisis is harming families & communities across the nation, particularly in Indian Country. With @USIndianAffairs @BIAOJS leading Interior’s Opioid Task Force, we’re saving lives & making progress in the fight pic.twitter.com/UVAEVYfvix
— US Department of the Interior (@Interior) April 3, 2019

Bay Mills noted that the lawsuit isn't the first of its kind from Indian Country. Hundreds of tribes, from some of the smallest to the largest ones in the United States, are seeking to hold opioid manufacturers responsible for high rates of addiction, overdoses and deaths on their homelands.

"This impact comes on top of two centuries of abuse that, until recent decades, largely sought to annihilate the very existence of the tribes, not just figuratively but literally—to kill them off by war, privation, and starvation," a historic brief signed by 448 tribes last fall read. "The ongoing legacy of this not-so-distant past makes resolution of the opioid crisis in Indian Country all the more complicated."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Indians and Alaska Natives had the highest drug overdose death rates in 2015. Among all ethnic and racial groups, they saw the largest percentage increase in the number of deaths between 1999 and 2015.

With tribes and the federal government placing increased emphasis on addressing the crisis, some improvements are being seen. But the statistics remain alarming -- in 2016, American Indians and Alaska Natives still had the second highest overdose rates from all opioids in 2016, according to the CDC.

“Prescription drug abuse can devastate families and communities," Trent Shores, the only Native American U.S. Attorney in the Trump administration, said in advance of National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, which includes tribal collection sites in northeastern Oklahoma this Saturday.

As part of their response to the opioid epidemic, tribes are adopting action plans to address the specific needs in their communities. Treatment and recovery are top priorities.

"There is critical need to break the cycle through intervention and healing," Ella Robertson, the chairwoman of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, told the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs during a field hearing in North Dakota last month. The tribe is among those that have filed lawsuits against drug companies.

A powwow on the Bay Mills Indian Community in Michigan. Photo: Bryan Newland

Bay Mills Chairman Newland said his tribe also has adopted a culturally-based action plan to address addiction in the community.

“We are changing the way we approach substance abuse, by moving away from a ‘crime and punishment’ model to actions that try to help families address the root causes of substance abuse,” said Newland.

The lawsuit was filed in the District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, where a federal judge is overseeing hundreds of opioid-related complaints filed by tribal, local and state governments. Among them is the case in which the 448 tribes submitted a friend of the court brief last October.

On April 1, a federal magistrate recommended two out of ten counts be dismissed in that particular case, which is being led by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the Blackfeet Nation. The tribes will be able to respond to the recommendation before a ruling is made.

Separately, dozens of tribes have filed their own complaints against opioid manufacturers.