'LIFERS,' AND PROUD OF IT

Tribes Encouraging Kids To Abstain From Drugs And Alcohol

SWINOMISH RESERVATION -- Alma Edwards, 10, and Sarah Scott, 9, are "lifers."

The term refers to a person who has never touched a drop of alcohol, taken
an illegal drug or smoked a cigarette.

The girls said they've never been offered alcohol or drugs, unlike some of
the other preteen girls on the Fidalgo Island reservation who said they
first tried drinking when they were 10.

Alma and Sarah were among about two dozen youths milling around in the rain
on Brian Porter's driveway on a Friday afternoon, waiting to leave for a
weekend trip to British Columbia. Porter runs the tribe's canoe club and
requires that the participants remain free of alcohol, tobacco and drugs.

The canoe club is part of a larger strategy of the Swinomish, as well as
the Upper Skagit Tribe, to use cultural activities as a tool to discourage
substance abuse among teenagers.

Statistically, young American Indians are less likely to drink than other
teens. But they are 17 times more likely to die an alcohol-related death
than any other ethnicity, according to 1998 figures from the National
Congress of American Indians.

A 1999 report by the National Indian Health Board found that alcohol is a
factor in five of the 10 leading causes of death for American Indians, who,
if they're going to drink, tend to experiment with alcohol at a younger age
than non-natives.

And yet American Indians as a group abstain from alcohol more than any
other ethnicity, the report stated.

"It's a little-known fact," said Connie Hunt, a behavioral health
consultant for the Portland area office of the Indian Health Service.
Nationwide, about half of American Indians and Alaska Natives don't use
alcohol at all, she said.

Abstention was the norm for hundreds of years before alcohol was introduced
to American Indians, she said.

"Alcohol per se was not available (historically) in the largest portion of
U.S. traditional cultures," she said. "There was little to no exposure to
alcohol."

Life lessons learned

Danny Cayou, 15, said he quit drinking before he joined the canoe club when
he was 11 or 12 years old.

His cousin Jessica Cayou, 12, said she tried alcohol once because her
friends said it cleared their minds. Her friends got pretty drunk, she
said, but she felt sick after one drink.

She doesn't hang out with those friends anymore, she said.

It's not easy for all of the teenagers in the canoe club to stay on the
clean and sober path, Porter said.

"If we take a weekend off, they will go have a cigarette," he said. "It's
all in the home. We only offer an activity. I catch myself feeling guilty
for leaving them at home."

Marijuana also is a big temptation, the children said.

The adults who work with the canoe club act as surrogate parents to the
members between April and October, said Aurelia "Dussie" Bailey, an
employment counselor for the tribe.

The club is in its fourth year and about half of the membership is new this
year, Bailey said. This is the first year that older members have dropped
out because they've chosen to spend their time drinking alcohol, she said.

"It's really hard to get away from it," she said. "They face it every day,
everywhere they turn."

Some of the younger teenagers on the reservation hang out with 18- and
21-year-olds who supply them with alcohol, she said.

The club gives the young people a release, she said.

"They have all that aggression and anger and hostility," Bailey said. "They
burn off all that energy on the water."

And it gets them off the reservation on weekends, while the rest of their
friends may be drinking or getting high, she said.

The members of the canoe club were required to attend the tribe's sixth
annual sobriety dinner last month, Bailey said. Unfortunately, she said,
some of the parents and other people who should be aware of the problem
weren't there.

After a feast of shellfish, frybread, pizza and cake in the Swinomish
gymnasium, Porter told the multigenerational crowd that he prefers a life
not centered around alcohol.

"I've seen the problems it's caused for us," he said. "The lessons that we
are taught we have to live with."

The younger generation can learn from the mistakes of their elders, he said.

"They don't have to go that far to learn lessons," he said. "They don't
have to learn the hard way."

And Porter and Bailey understand that sometimes youths make mistakes.

"If you stray, the door's not closed," Porter said. "You always have a
chance to come back."

Pursuing alternatives

The sobriety dinner is one aspect of a larger program, funded in large part
by the state Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse, said Joe Dunn,
director of the alcohol prevention program.

The program gets $50,000 from the state for two years, and the tribe
contributes about $5,500, Dunn said. The money is used for the sobriety
dinner, organized youth prevention programs and youth conferences, he said.

"It's not much money when you divide it up," he said.

The sobriety dinner is a celebration for those who lead sober lives, said
tribal Sen. Barbara James, who runs the youth program.

"Over the years, we've come to realize there are a number of people in
sobriety," James said. "It gives the youth an opportunity to witness that
there are a number of adults and peers who lead sober lives."

Sobriety is a family concern, said Barbara Wasserman, who is a social
worker for the tribe.

"Most people here are touched by drug or alcohol abuse," she said at the
dinner last week.

Seated at the table across from her, John Stephens, the tribe's program
administrator for health and social services, said the tribe has worked
hard to address substance abuse issues.

"It's the same for any family with a substance abuse problem," he said.
"Sometimes abstinence is the most successful strategy."

In addition to the yearly dinner and the canoe club, there is an
after-school program where children between the ages of 4 and 12 learn how
to make frybread and speak the native language.

The structured activities aim to prevent the children from making
destructive choices as they encourage an interest in tribal traditions.

Youth compliance officer Beverly Peters works with the Swinomish youths who
already have been in trouble with the law.

When she started the job in 1995, there were about 20 teenagers in the
court system, she said.

"It's down to six," she said.

Though several have turned 18, and are thus are out of her care, some still
come to visit her to show they are really complying with the law.

The youth programs aim to get a number of people involved in the young
people's lives, said counselor Kip Lewis, who works with the Swinomish and
Upper Skagit tribes.

"One waters the plant, one weeds, somebody else gets to harvest," he said.

Upper Skagit's plan

North of Sedro-Woolley, the Upper Skagit Tribe has similar state-supported
youth programs.

This year, the program has focused on improving academic skills of the
tribe's teenagers, said Susan Dunthorne, the Upper Skagit's social services
manager.

"The risk factors that make them fail in school are the same ones that can
lead to substance abuse," she said. "You get those basic skills enhanced
and hopefully cross your fingers."

Those risk factors include alcohol and substance abuse in their families
and community in general, a sense of isolation and poverty, she said.

For some youths in the Upper Skagit Tribe, just living on a reservation
puts them at risk of drug or alcohol problems, she said.

"Some of them are in need of a prevention program. Others are just as
healthy as can be -- mentally and spiritually," she said.

The tribe's education manager, Tony Angelis, helped the group of about 20
teenagers select a youth council that plans activities, Dunthorne said.

He teaches them leadership skills, the power of hope and self-confidence,
she said.

Like the Swinomish Tribe, the Upper Skagit youth programs promote cultural
awareness as well as abstinence from drugs and alcohol.

"All of it has a cultural element," Dunthorne said. "That's the most
important element."

Some of the activities are family-oriented. A few times a year, there are
alcohol- and drug-free outings, where elders are teamed up with youths to
pass on traditional skills such as basketry and carving, she said.

There also is a theater group in which the teenagers, by acting out
traditional allegories, model good behavior, she said.