Rocky Boy may banish drug dealers

A task force assigned with coming up with proposals for banishing drug dealers from the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation agreed to move forward on getting input and drafting an ordinance detailing how that will be done, at a meeting Thursday.

The Community Awareness Committee For Control of Drug Distribution is charged with formulating and submitting a proposal to be voted on by the Chippewa Cree Business Committee, the reservation's tribal council. State Rep. Bruce Meyers, R-Box Elder, who is on the committee, has said an initial vote on a proposal could be taken up by the council as early as next month.

Members of the committee said they will also seek advice from former tribal Chief Judge Strom Olson on drafting an ordinance, detailing who should be banished, and whether the penalties should be graduated.

The Committee was formed following a community meeting last week. Meyers said 70 people had shown up for that event, 90 percent of whom favored banishing drug dealers.

Banishment or the expulsion of undesirable elements from the reservation, either permanently or for periods of time, is something the tribal constitution allows, but the mechanism has not been used in recent years. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of South Dakota has passed a similar measure to bar drug pushers from its reservation and their program will serve as a template for crafting Rocky Boy's ordinance. In Browning, the Blackfeet reservation is weighing a similar policy.

Proponents say banning those convicted of serious drug offenses is necessary to address the problem of addiction that plagues the reservation, especially when it comes to methamphetamine. They blame desperate meth addicts, seeking money to subsidize their habit, for a series of burglaries, thefts and other crimes that have instilled fear in the community. Meth use lead to long term damage to a user's nervous system.

Despite the flurry of allegations via social media during the past week indicating otherwise, most committee members said banishment would not be used on addicts, only those convicted of dealing, trafficking and making those drugs.

"It's not about our family members who are using, this is about those individuals who are supplying," said Emery Nault, a prevention specialist with the White Sky Hope Center, a drug and alcohol treatment facility on the reservation.

Although he could not give a specific figure, Nault said the drugs being distributed and produced on the reservation are likely the work of only a few people, and those are the ones banishment is aimed at.

Nault added penalties would likely be graduated, with stronger punishments going to repeat offenders rather than being banished right away.

Some have suggested banishment could start at one year for those convicted of selling and transporting drugs followed by longer spans of time, before being permanently barred from the reservation. Others, suggested removing repeat offenders from the tribal roles as a possibility.

Rocky Boy Police Chief Steve Henry, though, said that he supports banishing dealers, but that addicts should not be set free without getting required treatment, ordered by tribal courts.

"Those are the people breaking into houses, committing crimes and causing all the problems," Henry said of the users. He added that if those users refuse treatment and offend repeatedly, perhaps they should also be considered for banishment. He said punishing users and or getting them treatment would dry up the customer base of pushers and put them out of business.

But committee members said they must figure out who will enforce banishment and fashion a process that balances punishment of criminals and protects due process rights of individuals.

According to Russell Standing Rock, a former tribal judge who sits on the committee, the tribal constitution says it is council that is charged with enforcing banishment.

Some said they worry that politics, concerns about the impartiality of tribal council if a member's child was being considered for banishment and a possible shift away from punishing dealers could make that difficult.

Other options, they said, could be to create strict sentencing guidelines tribal judges must comply with, or a banishment committee made up of individuals from legal, substance abuse counseling, and community leadership backgrounds to ensure each case is carefully evaluated and that the rights of those being banished are taken into account.

Tribal members said they hope to begin soliciting advice and start drafting language on what should go into a new ordinance at the next meeting, the date of which has yet to be determined.