TRIBE LAUNCHES METH CAMPAIGN

ROCKY BOY, Mont. - Plagued by methamphetamine addiction, the
Chippewa-Cree Indian Tribe has launched a campaign to curb the drug's
spread across the tribe's Montana reservation and treat those who
become hooked.

The tribe's business committee has created a 12-member tribal meth
advisory committee. The panel will use a combination of prevention,
intervention, treatment and increased law enforcement to curb meth's
spread and work to forge alliances with other area tribes and
existing anti-meth groups.

The key, said tribal council chairman and state lawmaker Jonathan
Windy Boy, is to create an environment where everyone is working
together against methamphetamine.

"We've been touched by this for a long time, and I think that fresh
ideas and a new approach need to be done," he told the Great Falls
Tribune in a story Thursday. "This is not going to go away."

Meth is a growing problem on the reservation, said Brenda Guardipee,
director of the tribe's social services program.

Client numbers at the reservation's outpatient drug treatment center
are on the rise, and the number of meth-related child welfare cases
also is growing.

In addition, more tribal welfare recipients are failing mandatory
drug testing. And children as young as 12 have tested positive for
the drug in the juvenile justice program.

"If it's accessible (to) a 12-year-old, it's easily accessible for
anyone else," Guardipee said.

The tribe's meth plan includes a lengthy list of goals. The get-tough
strategies include an ordinance that would allow tribal housing
officials to evict tenants who sell or distribute drugs, development
of a drug court, creation of a meth lab cleanup program and programs
to help communities police themselves.

Such measures are needed to prevent meth addiction becoming an
accepted part of the reservation landscape, Guardipee said.

"We can't look at it like that," she said.

The tribe plans to pay for the project with tribal funds and grants.

The next step is a Jan. 31 meeting with officials from a local meth
task force, and later with the Fort Belknap Reservation tribal council.