Children at Risk with Legal Marijuana

Marijuana legalization is fast becoming a reality for residents of some states, although it remains illegal under the federal laws that govern much of  Indian Country. Many states permit medicinal use of marijuana, while voters in Colorado and Washington have legalized recreational use by adults.

The National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children asked leading experts in Washington and Colorado to comment on the effect that they expect legal marijuana to have. Esther Larsen from the Washington Alliance for DEC, responded,

"Perception of associated risks has decreased, most notably among youth and adolescents according to Washington State's Healthy Youth Survey. The majority of all youth drug treatment admissions are for marijuana, both legal and illegal, with an increase of 20% from 2007 to 2012, according to Washington's Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery. Washington State's Toxicology Laboratory lists marijuana consistently as the most common drug detected among impaired drivers with drugs present in their blood."

Jade Woodard, Executive Director of Colorado Drug Endangered Children, added,

"There are many ways in which children will be impacted by marijuana legalization. Due to the legalization, it is estimated that marijuana use will increase, therefore increasing the risk of children experiencing abuse or neglect as a result of impaired caregivers. Significant concerns have been raised about the risk to children of ingesting infused marijuana products. A recent article in JAMA Pediatrics outlines the increase that has been seen in unintentional ingestion of marijuana or marijuana products by children. These children have displayed symptoms such as non-arousability and respiratory distress with some children actually being admitted into the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Additionally, research by National Jewish Hospital and Colorado Drug Investigators Association identified significant health hazards of indoor marijuana cultivation, especially for children. Finally, an ongoing concern of marijuana legalization centers around the increase in teen marijuana use and concerns regarding the diversion of marijuana to those under age 21. There are reports of increased rates of school suspensions, expulsions, and dropouts related to teen marijuana use. It is critical that training, education, and monitoring of the impacts of marijuana legalization on children and families be prioritized for Colorado."

We hope the political leaders of these states will heed Ms. Woodard's words.

Drug Endangered Children Awareness Day

The National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children observes DEC Awareness Month throughout April, but today is the day everyone involved in helping these children and their families is focusing on solutions. State and tribal DEC Alliances have spent this month getting proclamations signed, coordinating social media campaigns and organizing events with state and local governments. National Alliance DEC Vice President Lori Moriarty has created this short video to highlight why we work so hard to make a difference for drug endangered children and their families.



Do you want to hear more about what Lori has to say? Sign up for one of our tuition-free regional training sessions, where Lori will expand on the role of National DEC in protecting our children. Lori will also be helping tribal professionals develop an action plan for improving identification of drug endangered children in your community through a collaborative approach in a tuition-free webinar this November 6.


If you think drug endangered children deserve more awareness year around, we agree! So does Michele Justice, the owner of Personnel Security Consultants, Inc. We've featured PSC as one of our Native businesses in the spotlight, in part because of their dedication to raising awareness about DEC through their community calendar program. PSC sponsors an annual art contest to gather art from Native students to illustrate the beautiful "Our Children, Our Responsibility" calendar. This beautiful calendar features monthly tips on identifying and reporting DEC in your community, covering topics such as who is a mandated reporter, who receives reports of child abuse, types of abuse and more. The numbers for the childhelp national abuse hotline and the Indian Country child abuse hotline are printed on every page. Use their online order form if you just need a few, but if you are ordering for a large department, contact PSC to discuss bulk rates.

Killing the Pain Is Killing People

As prescription painkillers become harder to obtain, more expensive and less likely to get you high, opiate addicts in many areas are finding that it's cheaper to satisfy their jones with cheap Mexican heroin. Even though prescription drug-related deaths are have outstripped auto accidents in some areas, heroin is even more dangerous, cut as it is with a variety of chemicals, and of unpredictable potency.

While some areas, like Idaho and Montana, are still wrestling more with methamphetamine abuse (and have passed strict laws to control over-the-counter drugs like pseudoephedrine), more urban regions (like Minnesota, New York, Washington and Florida) are definitely seeing an increase in heroin related deaths and prescription overdoses.

Native Americans experience an overdose rate triple that of the general population, but even suburban parents of promising athletes have been seeing sports injuries tragically turn to opiate addiction, then death by overdose.

We've been sounding this alarm for a while now, but 2013 is the year that we're taking action. Sign up for our tribal drugs of abuse and drug endangered children training program to talk about how this deadly trend is impacting public health, public budgets and public safety in Indian Country. At our regional sessions and our May 1 webinar on the prescription drug to heroin link, we'll provide an overview of the problem and then get to work discussing solutions that will work with the resources we have in our communities. 

Prescription Overdoses Continue to Rise For 11th Year

Federal data compiled by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention show that prescription drug deaths rose for the 11th year in a row, to a shocking 38,329 deaths nationwide. The report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that opioid painkillers like Vicodin and Oxycontin are the primary culprits, accounting for 75% of overdoses. Valium contributed to about 30% of the overdoses.

About 17% of these cases were clearly suicides, but the rest seem to have been accidental. The director of the chemical dependency program at NYC's Beth Israel Medical center told AP, "Right now there's a general belief that because these are pharmaceutical drugs, they're safer than street drugs like heroin. But at some point, people using these drugs are going to become more aware of the dangers."

In response to this growing problem, Indian Country Training is continuing its Tribal Prescription Drug Abuse Program, combined with Drug Endangered Children education, for another year. Intensive two-day regional sessions are scheduled for Albuquerque, Nashville, Spokane and Phoenix. For those who can't travel, or want some additional information, webinars are scheduled for May, July, September and November. Contact Indian Country Training for more information on these tuition-free events.

Drug Courts: Success Stories and Funding Opportunities

Throwing drug offenders in jail without addressing the problems that led to their arrest is a recipe for recidivism. In Indian Country, drug and alcohol offenders fill the courts, crowd the jails, and usually end up re-offending after their release. To end this destructive pattern, tribes across the nation have successfully implemented tribal healing to wellness courts. Tribal leaders of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe were initially reluctant to join a partnership with the state of Minnesota and the county courts, but with only two reoffending graduates after seven years, they are now vocal advocates of the wellness court, which also accepts DWI offenders. The tribe recently won an award for court innovation from the National Criminal Justice Association.

Participants in a tribal healing to wellness court work hard on their sobriety, involve family and community in their healing, and engage in traditional healing ceremonies, like sweats. Program staff do their part by  monitoring, meeting with and randomly drug and alcohol testing participants, and updating the tribal and county judges on each person's progress. This model works no matter where it's implemented; there is a very successful drug court serving Harris County, TX.

What's the drawback to tribal healing to wellness or drug courts? Without more judges, staff and service providers, courts can only handle a few people at a time. The Ojibwe and Cass County court supports a maximum of 25 offenders at a time and even the Houston court can only accommodate 50 offenders at a time. The Department of Justice BJA and OJJDP both have currently open grant solicitations to implement sustainable family drug court programs and adult drug court programs (link to PDF).

CDC Working to Prevent Painkiller Overdoses

In response to the skyrocketing deaths from prescription painkiller overdoses, the CDC put together a handy guide on what they're doing to prevent it, called "Saving Lives and Protecting People: Preventing Prescription Painkiller Overdoses." It's also available for download as a pdf.

The cost of not taking these critical steps is clear:

Overdoses of prescription painkillers (also called opioid or narcotic pain relievers) have more than tripled in the past 20 years, killing more than 15,500 people in the United States in 2009.

Overdose deaths are only part of the problem—for each death involving prescription painkillers, hundreds of people abuse or misuse these drugs:

• Emergency department visits for prescription painkiller abuse or misuse have doubled in the past 5 years to nearly half a million. 

• About 12 million American teens and adults reported using prescription painkillers to get “high” or for other nonmedical reasons.

• Nonmedical use of prescription painkillers costs more than $72.5 billion each year in direct health care costs.

Battling Heroin in Minnesota Requires Community Coalitions

Read the whole story at Indian Country Today Media Network. The news from Minnesota tribes may be grim, but Walter reminds us that solutions lie in education and community coalitions that battle this problem, starting with preventing and treating prescription opiate addiction.  Besides destroying the user's life and health, heroin use results in increased crime, HIV and hepatitis infections, and drug endangered children living in filthy and dangerous environments. Tribes are working with county, state and federal officials to turn this around, but all concerned community members, from caregivers to teachers and from health care workers to law enforcement officers and Tribal courts need to help with the effort to combat heroin.

Drugs of Abuse: Identification and Abatement in Tribal Housing

Learn to recognize the signs of methamphetamine use, prescription drug and over the counter drug abuse, synthetic drug use or heroin use. In addition to identification, participants will learn effective abatement strategies.

Click on the link to learn more about our upcoming training in Scottsdale, AZ. This two day, interactive program is free for Indian Tribe or Tribal Housing Authority employees. Any other participants can register for $50. Click here to register online.

Rx Drug Take Back Day A Huge Success

Americans turned in 488,395 pounds—244 tons—of prescription and over the counter drugs on Saturday to DEA agents nationwide. Removing these prescription medications from circulation cuts down on the potential for abuse and its catastrophic consequences.  All together, the Take Back events have collected over 1018 tons of prescription pills. We're making progress!

Do you have a Rx Drug Abuse Prevention success story?
Head over to our Facebook page and join the discussion!

Prescription Drug Take-Back Day Saturday, September 29

Coming To A Site Near You

The best way not to become a party to prescription drug abuse is to avoid having drugs in the house that are unused or expired. Prescription and over the counter drugs should never be flushed or put down the drain, to avoid contaminating the water supply. Instead, they must be disposed of in an environmentally safe manner.

To make disposing of unused drugs easier, the DEA will be accepting any pills or liquids you have lying around your house, between 10 am and 2 pm on Monday, September 29. To find the nearest collection site, go to the DEA website to search by your zip code. You can also call 1-800-882-9539 for more information about the program.