Pubdate: Mon, 14 Jan 2008
Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT)
Copyright: 2008 The Billings Gazette
Contact:  http://www.billingsgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/515
Author: Diane Cochran

TRIBES TO SHARE $5.6 MILLION GRANT TO FIGHT DRUG  ADDICTION

A $5.6 million federal grant  awarded to the Montana-Wyoming Tribal
Leaders Council  will help American Indian communities battle
addiction  to methamphetamine and other substances.

The money, to be dispensed over three years, will fund  the Rocky
Mountain Tribal Access to Recovery, a new  program designed to broaden
treatment and support  systems available to tribal members with addictions.

The Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council, made up of
representatives from 10 tribes in the two states,  competed for the
grant with 40 applicants from around  the country.

"You had a very compelling application that talked  about
partnerships," said Terry Cline, administrator of  the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services  Administration, the federal agency that
awarded the  grant. "That really was the point that caught SAMHSA's
eye."

About 15 percent of American Indians in Montana and  Wyoming, or about
11,000 people, need some form of  substance abuse treatment, Cline
said.

But only 4,000 of them are getting it, he said.

Methamphetamine abuse is of particular concern to  tribal
leaders.

"It's like a cancerous growth," said Gordon Belcourt,  executive
director of the Montana-Wyoming Tribal  Leaders Council. "It has
tentacles out there for  suicide, tentacles for co-occurring disorders
and  mental health problems, declines in productivity and  high
unemployment rates."

"It's really indicative of a culture and society in  distress."
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