Audience hears about the horrors of meth

Less than two weeks after the Fort Belknap Indian Community Council voted to declare a state of emergency against methamphetamine on its reservation, people from both on and off the reservation held an educational symposium about the issue Friday morning at Aaniiih Nakoda College.

The discussion took place in the college's Erib-Tsah-Ah-Tsik Sitting High Culture Center. It was organized by Charmayne Healy and Miranda Crasko-Kirk, who spearheaded the move to enact the state of emergency, along with Richard King of the Fort Belknap Chemical Dependency Center.

Following an opening prayer and tribal song, 11 speakers from Blaine County and nearby reservations including substance abuse counselors, legal officials, former users and leaders from Fort Belknap and area reservations, spoke about the substance they say is ravaging their communities.

Perry Miller, the Blaine County justice of the peace and the city judge for Chinook and Harlem, was among those who spoke. Miller, who has spent 23 years on the bench, said his time as a judge has shown him just how prevalent meth use is.

"So, within our court system, I can do a urine analysis on people, and you would be amazed by the number of people who are on methamphetamines," Miller said.

Miller told of how he once transported an 8-year-old to the Yellowstone Detention Center in Billings for taking prescription and illegal drugs to school to sell them, an experience he described as "heart wrenching."

The bulk of the methamphetamines, Miller said, are not produced on Fort Belknap or locally, but in other states and Canada. He said the product is more pure, possesses more addictive properties and is being manufactured in larger quantities than it was 10 years ago.

Miller said putting meth dealers away requires local and state law enforcement agencies and courts to forge an agreement with reservations to honor each other's warrants.

There are those who commit crimes, including dealing in meth, who Miller said are wanted by the state and who flee to Fort Belknap and other reservations where they know state law enforcement doesn't have jurisdiction. Conversely, some people wanted by reservation law enforcement are doing the same, Miller said, by fleeing off the reservation because they know the reach of the reservation's law doesn't extend across the Milk River. referring to Fort Belknap Indian Reservation's northern and northeastern borders.

"We cannot give criminals safe haven, we can not give criminals safe haven," Miller said, emphasizing his point. "That river can not be a line of demarcation for what is going on in our community."

Miller said some users and dealers may need to be sentenced to prison, pay fines or be sent to court-mandated treatment at the CDC. However, he said, the criminally minded involved are a small percentage of those whose lives are eventually consumed by meth. The punishments they face, he said, should be crafted in a way that treats offenders and allows them to integrate back into society afterward.

"Most of them are good people who at some point made a very bad choice," Miller said.

Rather than call the sheriff after someone is brought in on charges of drug possession, Miller said, he prefers to order them to get clean and come in to take regular urinalysis tests to see to it that they abstain from drug and alcohol use.

If someone shows Miller that they don't need to be in jail, but the law mandates that they be held, he said he will place them under house arrest.

"I want them to be with their families," Miller said. "I want them to go to college. I will let them keep their jobs, if they show they are willing to do that."

Pete Sutherland, another of the speakers, has experience with meth both as a substance abuse counselor and a former user.

Sutherland spent the bulk of his allotted time giving a 33-slide PowerPoint presentation about meth, the symptoms and ways to overcome addiction.

He said the sensational high from meth happens because when a person uses the drug, dopamine, a chemical produced in the brain, floods the brain causing the user to feel elation and immense positive energy.

This high can last for hours, but once it wears off and the dopamine runs out, a person enters what is known as a crash stage. In that stage, the users begin to experience intense depression and other symptoms of withdrawal.

"A lot of people have committed suicide during this stage," Sutherland said.

The user then tries to find more meth to resume that high, and that is how a dangerous dependence forms.

This addiction will end up engulfing all aspects of the users' lives, Southern said. It will affect them physically, in terms of health, emotionally, socially, financially, culturally, spiritually and in terms of their family.

"We put our drugs over the needs of our loved ones," Sutherland said. "The drugs take over our better judgement."

Sutherland said there was one instance when his then-5-year-old son needed new shoes. He had some money and had to choose between replacing his son's shoes and buying more drugs. Southerland said he bought more drugs. Later, when he saw his son running around with his shoes falling apart, he said he felt like crying.

When it comes to treatment, Sutherland advises people not to punish or condemn users.

"You can't punish people into wellness," Sutherland said.

He said that to help meth users begin the process of getting clean, people around them need to demonstrate through respect and understanding that there is something to look forward to once they are clean.

He suggests that family and those close to the users become part of the recovery process and be there for them afterward.

Sutherland said he encourages people to connect or reconnect spiritually. This will help guide them through the journey of recovery and get back in touch with things that exist beyond themselves.

"I had a praying mother, and I really believe that's what helped me out of it " Sutherland said of his addiction.

Recovering users should lay out a recovery plan with loved ones and a substance abuse counselor and put it into action, he aid.

Those trying to recover should not isolate themselves and should be encouraged to participate in activities and community events that don't involve drugs and alcohol. They should cut themselves off from negative people who will lure them back into drug use, Sutherland added.

The brain and body will rebuild itself within a matter of months, with proper care and as long as the user abstains from substance abuse.

Sutherland said recovering users should also be encouraged to exercise and also to take part in activities that involve using their brain such as puzzles, making art, reading and returning to school.