Evelyn Jefferson walks deep into a forest dotted with tents of homeless Lummi Nation tribal members, calling out their names. When someone shows up, she and her nurse hand them naloxone, the drug that reverses an opioid overdose.
Jefferson himself is a member of the tribe and knows how important these kits are. Just five months before her, her own son died from an overdose of a synthetic opioid, which is about 100 times more powerful than fentanyl. The 37-year-old man’s death is the fourth opioid-related death on the reservation in four days.
“It took eight days for him to be buried because there were so many funerals ahead of him and we had to wait in line,” said Jefferson, the Lummi Nation’s crisis support supervisor. . “Fentanyl really took a generation out of this tribe.”
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A bill introduced in Washington’s Congress would provide more state funding to tribes like Lummi who are trying to stop opioids from being passed on to future generations. The state Senate this week unanimously approved a bill that would provide nearly $8 million in total to 29 federally recognized tribes in Washington, but some of that money would go toward a deal between the state and a major opioid distributor. This comes from a settlement of approximately $500 million.
This approach comes as American Indians and Alaska Natives in Washington state are dying from opioid overdoses at five times the state average, according to 2021-2022 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, including preliminary numbers. Ta. Although Washington state’s morbidity rate is among the highest in the United States, more than three times the national rate, many of the state’s indigenous peoples do not have the financial or medical resources to fully address this morbidity. It is insufficient.
Like many tribes, the Lummi Nation faces the added challenge of keeping outside drug traffickers off its land. Tribal police often cannot arrest non-tribal members on reservations due to a complex jurisdiction.
Evelyn Jefferson, crisis support supervisor for the Lummi Nation, stands in front of her son’s grave on Thursday, February 8, 2024, at the Lummi Nation cemetery on the tribal reservation near Bellingham, Washington. (AP Photo/Lindsay Wasson)
“What do we do if a predatory drug dealer other than Lummi has fentanyl on our reservation, drives around and on our property, and sells drugs? ” Tribal Chairman Anthony Hilaire said.
Against this backdrop, tribes such as the Lummi Nation, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Seattle, argue that the proposed funding, while well-received, only scratches the surface. There is. The tribe of about 5,300 people living along the Salish Sea coast has already seen nearly one overdose death per week this year.
Hilaire said the Lummi Nation needs $12 million to fully fund a 16-bed secure medical detox facility that incorporates tribal culture and build a new counseling center following flood damage. Funds are also needed for this purpose. These costs alone far exceed the annual total for which the tribe is designated under the law. The Senate is proposing to allocate $12 million from the capital budget to the facility.
“We are a sovereign nation. We are a self-governing tribe. We know how to take care of ourselves and we want to take care of ourselves,” he said. “So usually all you need is funding and legal reform – good policy.”
The proposed measure would divert funds deposited into the Opioid Settlement Account to tribes battling addiction, including a $500 million grant the state signed with the nation’s three largest opioid distributors in 2022. It also includes an $18 million settlement. The tribe is expected to receive the greater of $7.75 million each year or 20% of the funds deposited into the account in the previous fiscal year.
Republican state Sen. John Brown, one of the bill’s sponsors, said he envisions the money being distributed through a grant program.
“If this ends up being the wrong amount or is distributed unfairly, I’m happy to address this,” he said. “This is for us to get started and make sure we don’t sit around and wait for the problem to resolve itself.”
The number of opioid overdose deaths among American Indians and Alaska Natives has increased dramatically in recent years in Washington state, with at least 100 deaths expected by 2022, according to the latest numbers available from the Washington State Department of Health. This is an increase of 75 people from 2019.
In September, the Lummi Nation declared a state of emergency over fentanyl, adding drug-sniffing dogs and checkpoints and revoking bail on drug-related charges.
The tribe also opened a seven-bed facility to help members with withdrawal symptoms and receive treatment for opioid use disorder, while providing access to an adjacent culture room with cedar and sage. In its first five months, the facility has treated 63 people, most of whom are still on medication, said Dr. Jesse Davis, medical director of the Lummi Healing Spirit Opioid Treatment Program.
But to truly stop this crisis, the Lummi Nation must do more than go it alone, said Lummi City Councilman Nicolaus Lewis.
“We can do everything we can to protect our people. But if they go out to Bellingham, they go out anywhere other than the reservation. If they have different laws, different policies. , what good would that do if we had a different barrier?” he said.
The tribe urges Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and President Joe Biden to declare a state of emergency in response to the opioid crisis, create a larger safety net and bring critical additional resources to the issue. I asked.
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Jefferson estimates that there are more than 60 tribe members at Bellingham’s camp, some of whom he recognizes as friends of his son, and some of whom are elders of Lummi. She suspects many of them left the reservation to avoid the tribe’s crackdown on opioids.
When she visits them with a van full of food, hand warmers and clothes to distribute, she wears a shirt her niece gave her the day after her son died. It says her “fight fentanyl like her mother”.
“It’s a losing battle, but someone has to be there to let addicts know that someone cares,” Jefferson said. “Maybe that person will come to you for treatment because you care.”
