As the Eastern Band of Cherokee embarks on an effort to rid their community of drug problems, tribal officials and law enforcement personnel have drawn a sharp distinction between drug users and drug dealers. That kind of progressive thinking is much-needed, and should prove more effective at stemming long-term drug abuse than a hard-nosed approach.

Although EBCI Chief Michell Hicks and other tribal officials have gotten a lot of recent publicity for this initiative, it actually got under way in 2004. Soon after Hicks was elected, he saw that drug use was a problem and that the explosive growth of methamphetamine use among tribal members had to be addressed.

Drugs are among the most damaging scourges of Native American communities as this country heads into the 21st century. Study after study reveals that drug abuse among Native Americans is worse than for any other racial or ethnic group. A May 2003 survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that 13.9 percent of Native Americans older than 12 reported past year dependence or abuse of alcohol or drugs. For all other population groups the rate was 7.3 percent. The same organization reported that Native Americans admitted to abusing alcohol, drugs and cigarettes at a higher rate than blacks, Hispanics, Asians or Caucasians.

Drug abuse, though, is not limited to any single community. The current drug fad, methamphetamine production and use, has invaded the reservation with the same ferocity it has swept across much of the rest of this country. The drug can be produced in home laboratories with off-the-shelf products purchased legally from retail stores. The final product is an inexpensive, strong drug that is immediately addictive and very quickly wreaks havoc on the body.

As law enforcement officers on the reservation work to arrest those making or selling all illegal drugs, there has been a conscious effort to provide help to those who have become addicted. Susan Leading Fox, the deputy of the tribal health department, says the community effort to tackle the drug problem included a commitment to treatment programs.

“We needed community buy-in. The bottom line we heard was that we needed to get tougher on the dealers and the manufacturers. But we’ve made a distinction between your manufacturers and traffickers and addicts. We need to offer them treatment more so than punishment,” said Fox.

The truth about the war on drugs in this country is that too little emphasis has been placed on treatment and too many resources have been allocated to the criminal justice system. Cherokee’s even-handed approach makes much more sense and should, with time, show better results.