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The rate of overdose deaths linked to fentanyl is skyrocketing and Native Americans are many times more likely to be affected. The cheap and potent drug is replacing its related cousins — heroin and oxycodone — as the biggest addiction threat. Among the bright spots: the Cherokee Nation is investing in a state-of-the-art in-patient treatment facility to combat the ravages of opioid addiction.
GUESTS
Chairwoman Angela Elliott-Santos (Manzanita Band of Kumeyaay Nation), chairwoman of the Manzanita Band of Kumeyaay Nation
Juli Skinner, senior director of behavioral health for the Cherokee Nation
Dr. Joseph Gone (Aaniiih), professor of Anthropology and of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard University
Joseph Friedman, researcher at UCLA
Break 1 music: We Are (song) DiggingRoots (artist) We Are (album)
Break 2 music: The Spin of the Earth (song) Keith Secola (artist) Portals (album)
We needed a mental health facility before establishing a substance abuse facility.
We don’t have a place for minors that need mental health in patient care for attempted suicide or other basic mental health counseling.
Also, the Cherokee Nation ER at Hastings Hospital in Tahlequah stocks fentanyl for patient use, why?
Signed Cherokee Nation citizen
Fentanyl has some properties that make it slightly easier and safer to use than other opioids for in hospital use. And getting rid of all opioids means being unable to treat severe pain, so it’s not a good option.