TALEQUAH, Oklahoma – The Cherokee Nation has taken a major step toward eradicating drug abuse in the tribal community.
“We understand that drug and alcohol addiction is one of the most difficult problems we face,” said Commander-in-Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.
“We are not content to simply avoid even the most difficult challenges facing our people. We face them together.”
There are currently no treatment centers near the tribe that can help members.
Those seeking help had to travel long distances to get the help they needed.
Coleman Cox is the director of the tribe’s loss prevention program.
It helps tribal members recover and stay safe from substance abuse at their own pace.
He is very much looking forward to the opening of the center so that even more help can be provided locally.
“It’s happening here on our own country, on our own soil. It’s being done by our own people, for our own people.”
The Harm Prevention Program has over 1,000 regular members who seek help from the group.
“We work hard to meet people where they are, no matter where they are on their journey to healing,” Cox said.
“We don’t tell them to change. They are willing to change themselves.”
Chief Hoskin said many intergenerational traumas also contributed to the substance abuse that many indigenous communities suffer from today.
He says the trauma ranges from the forced relocation of the native population to assimilation from state-funded boarding schools, which were not completely closed until the 1960s.
RELATED: Tribes take steps to process boarding school trauma in the indigenous community
Chied Hoskin Jr. also signed a proclamation for the Cherokee Nation officially observing International Drug and Medication Overdose Awareness Day on August 31. The full text is below.
Cherokee Nation participates in International Overdose Awareness Day
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