A message from President Armstrong:
We have long known that substance abuse disproportionately impacts Native communities. Though we make up just a fraction of this country’s population, we experience much higher addiction rates and our people die in greater numbers than non-Natives, as a result of overdoses.
In fact, Native people are more than 50 percent more likely to die of an overdose than non-Natives. Even more striking, Native overdose deaths from abuse of prescription and illicit opioids have increased nearly sixfold in recent years.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has had made an enormous impact on Native communities, has served to make the drug epidemic in our communities even worse – raising stress levels and forcing us to isolation from one another. Due to these additional factors, there has been a marked increase in the use and abuse of opioids, as well as other drugs and alcohol.
The drug epidemic has impacted each of our lives, families and loved ones. Too many lives have been lost to this scourge. A single life lost is one too many.
Members of our Nation are understandably angry and demanding action. I, too, am angry, as are members of the Council and the entire Seneca Nation government. We have heard your call, and we are responding.
We are deeply committed to helping our people navigate this crisis and will not stand for non-Native drug dealers operating on our territories. With the Council’s support, in 2016, we banished seven known or suspected drug dealers from our territories. Recently, we issued three Exclusion Orders, due to illegal drug activity. In the coming days, we will be launching an anti-drug ad campaign, within our communities. The campaign will include new billboards and several other initiatives.
I am calling on the entire Seneca community to join us in standing against these dealers by reporting any and all suspicious drug-related activity to the Marshals. Harboring or helping a non-Seneca dealer will have significant consequences; not only will you endanger yourself, your neighbors and well-being of the entire Nation, but you also put your annuity at risk.
To those struggling with addiction, please know that the Nation has resources available, focused on drug prevention and treatment; including recovery services, peer support and empowerment programs. We have Senecas in our communities who have fought this same battle and are working on their recovery, one day at a time. They have reached out and are willing to help in any way then can. The best prevention is to stop using these substances altogether.
The story of the Seneca people is that of fortitude, strength and resilience. We have survived poverty, pestilence and prejudice, and we have persevered. This is yet another challenge for us to overcome, and I believe we will do so – together.
