Tribal law enforcement agencies across the United States say that methamphetamine use is the number one cause at the root of domestic abuse, child neglect, beatings, theft, embezzlement, fraud, rape and murder. The problem is made worse by the inability of tribal law enforcement agencies to deal with the problems due to lack of funding, personnel, training and equipment. Mexican drug cartels take advantage of the often complicated law enforcement jurisdictions in Indian Country; isolated communities are hit the hardest, and sometimes even tribal leaders are not immune; if not part of the "action" themselves, they are often intimidated and threatened to allowing such activities to exist, even to the point of arranging for tribal and federal money to trickle into the hands of the addicted.
On one reservation alone, the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, the Sangaste crime organization out of Ogden, Utah, saturated the Northern Arapaho and the Shoshoni tribes with it, starting in 2000; by 2005, the Wind River had the highest per capita use of meth on any reservation in the country. Crime soared. From 2003 to 2006 alone, cases of child neglect increased 131 percent, drug possession was up 163 percent; spousal abuse rose 218 percent. Tribal finances simultaneously fell into a state of disarray and federal funds.
Wind River is not alone. Throughout Indian Country, resources are few and most reservations don't have treatment centers. Between 2000 and 2005, the number of methamphetamine contacts in Indian Health Services facilities increased by almost 250 percent. On March 20, 2009, an illegal alien from Mexico was found guilty by a federal jury of Conspiracy to Possess With Intent to Distribute 500 grams or More of Methamphetamine and Possession With Intent To Distribute over 500 grams of Methamphetamine on the Gila Indian Reservation in Arizona.
Methamphetamine, or meth, is a highly addictive drug that can cause paranoia and delusions in long-term users. Addicts often turn to crime to supply their habits, which can sometimes lead to violent, headline-grabbing offenses. In a recent and highly publicized case, Andre Calac was sentenced to 80 years in prison for killing his pregnant girlfriend with a shotgun blast at the Rincon Indian Reservation. His blood, taken shortly after the shooting, tested positive for marijuana and methamphetamine, and his blood-alcohol level was 0.19 percent. Meth was recently found in about 36 percent of men and 47 percent of women who were booked into southern California jails.
The Indian Health Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs both pretended that the problems did not exist. While meth use and related criminal activities and health issues were on a rapid rise, budgets were being cut. The National Congress of American Indians cites the meth problem at the top of their list of priorities.
Once again, Congress and the federal agencies have seen fit to let the American Indian suffer without help and without answers. Our officials in Washington should be ashamed of themselves.
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