Post by blackcrowheart on Jul 27, 2006 13:55:32 GMT -5
Quapaws open drug treatment center
Offer a service previously unavailable on Native land in Oklahoma
MIAMI OK
Sam Lewin 7/25/2006
The Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma and a Pacific Northwest-based health care organization have opened a unique drug treatment center in Miami.
The Quapaw Counseling Services facility is designed to curb addiction by offering treatment for two drugs currently enjoying a frightening degree of popularity: Methamphetamine and prescription narcotic painkillers.
According to Indian Health Services, three out of every ten Native American young people have tried meth, a powerful stimulant that many law enforcement officers say ahs emerged as the main drug of choice in their communities.
Officials with Native Health Systems, the Washington State health care management company teaming with the Quapaws, say they tackle meth addiction through a two-pronged approach. The first aspect involves helping the addict learn coping skills. Next is a supportive atmosphere rife with group and one-on-one counseling.
Treating painkiller addiction can be a little trickier and the Quapaw facility is perhaps the first Native service in the state to offer a methadone maintenance program.
According to the National Institute of Health, “Methadone maintenance treatment is effective in reducing illicit opiate drug use, in reducing crime, in enhancing social productivity, and in reducing the spread of viral diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis.”
The Quapaw methadone “program uses a long-acting synthetic opiate medication, methadone, administered orally for a sustained period at a dosage sufficient to prevent opiate withdrawal, block the effects of illicit opiate use, and decreases opiate craving. Patients stabilized on adequate, sustained dosages of methadone can function normally,” wrote Ken Cloutier, project development manager for Native Health Systems, in an e-mail to the Native American Times. “They can hold jobs, avoid the crime and violence of the street culture, and reduce their exposure to HIV by stopping or decreasing injection drug use and drug-related high-risk sexual behavior.”
Oklahoma currently has six methadone centers-three each in Oklahoma City and Tulsa- but the Quapaw facility is the only one on Indian land. Quapaw Counseling Services also offers treatment for alcoholism and other forms of drug addiction. For more information, call 918-542-4232.
Meanwhile, the war against drugs in Indian Country continues. In Arizona, a man has just been sentenced to ten years in prison after being caught trying to enter an Indian reservation with 400 pounds of cocaine.
Arthur David Pablo, 55, was busted in April of last year with the coke found hidden in a pickup truck parked in his driveway. Investigation later revealed that Pablo and two other people entered from Mexico to the Tohono O’odham reservation with the drugs, which they planned on selling.
Tohono O’odham officials have said for years that they need federal help in preventing drug traffickers from crossing the border onto tribal land.
You can reach Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com
Offer a service previously unavailable on Native land in Oklahoma
MIAMI OK
Sam Lewin 7/25/2006
The Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma and a Pacific Northwest-based health care organization have opened a unique drug treatment center in Miami.
The Quapaw Counseling Services facility is designed to curb addiction by offering treatment for two drugs currently enjoying a frightening degree of popularity: Methamphetamine and prescription narcotic painkillers.
According to Indian Health Services, three out of every ten Native American young people have tried meth, a powerful stimulant that many law enforcement officers say ahs emerged as the main drug of choice in their communities.
Officials with Native Health Systems, the Washington State health care management company teaming with the Quapaws, say they tackle meth addiction through a two-pronged approach. The first aspect involves helping the addict learn coping skills. Next is a supportive atmosphere rife with group and one-on-one counseling.
Treating painkiller addiction can be a little trickier and the Quapaw facility is perhaps the first Native service in the state to offer a methadone maintenance program.
According to the National Institute of Health, “Methadone maintenance treatment is effective in reducing illicit opiate drug use, in reducing crime, in enhancing social productivity, and in reducing the spread of viral diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis.”
The Quapaw methadone “program uses a long-acting synthetic opiate medication, methadone, administered orally for a sustained period at a dosage sufficient to prevent opiate withdrawal, block the effects of illicit opiate use, and decreases opiate craving. Patients stabilized on adequate, sustained dosages of methadone can function normally,” wrote Ken Cloutier, project development manager for Native Health Systems, in an e-mail to the Native American Times. “They can hold jobs, avoid the crime and violence of the street culture, and reduce their exposure to HIV by stopping or decreasing injection drug use and drug-related high-risk sexual behavior.”
Oklahoma currently has six methadone centers-three each in Oklahoma City and Tulsa- but the Quapaw facility is the only one on Indian land. Quapaw Counseling Services also offers treatment for alcoholism and other forms of drug addiction. For more information, call 918-542-4232.
Meanwhile, the war against drugs in Indian Country continues. In Arizona, a man has just been sentenced to ten years in prison after being caught trying to enter an Indian reservation with 400 pounds of cocaine.
Arthur David Pablo, 55, was busted in April of last year with the coke found hidden in a pickup truck parked in his driveway. Investigation later revealed that Pablo and two other people entered from Mexico to the Tohono O’odham reservation with the drugs, which they planned on selling.
Tohono O’odham officials have said for years that they need federal help in preventing drug traffickers from crossing the border onto tribal land.
You can reach Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com