Sharing One's Skin

“Sharing One’s Skin” is about Jenette Armstrong's beliefs and traditions with her Okanagan culture. She talks about the four capacities of self, these include physical self, emotional self, thinking intellectual self, and spiritual self. She connects these four selves to different aspects of her life. The differences of community and family, as well as identity, within different cultural communities are her two main topics of focus.

The importance of cultural ambiguity is what I take away from this article the most. We learn from one another on a daily basis and how we imply that in certain aspects of our lives can make or break us. It's important to have that knowledge of other people's values and beliefs to better understand them. Armstrong states, “without community and family we are truly not human” Throughout our lives we’re sat down with tribal leaders and relatives that tell us right from wrong and how to do this and how to do that. At times it may seem repetitive but without it I think we’d be lost. The importance of community and family is and always will be of most importance as indigenous peoples.

Native American Identity

In “Native American Identity” we’re told, “Someday we’re all going to be like white people”. The article then goes on to say how we are losing our Native American identity and living a double life. The author also exclaims how the certificate of indian blood is making indianness a political proposition and that he doesn’t think that there is such a thing as a degree of Indianness.

Personally I don't think that a certain percentage of “indianness” makes you any less indigenous then you already are. Identity is important to anyone that roams the earth. It's what makes us, us. It's who we search for to better understand ourselves and what we look for to better understand others.

American Indian Boarding Schools in the United States

The definition of generational trauma is a collective trauma inflicted on a group of people who have a specific group identity or affiliation. As Indigenous Peoples we learn about the importance of celebrating our culture, whether it's speaking our language, or wearing our traditional regalia. We're told to learn all we can and to make sure we pass it down to our children, but why? Residential Boarding Schools were first introduced in 1860 and were not shut down completely until 1978, meaning that for over a 100 years Indigenous peoples all over the country fell into a cycle of cultural genocide. The operation of residential schools across the country had an immense impact on indigenous people. At the time the people running these schools were Caucasian Christians that often worked for the church. Many survivors of these schools were left with inadequate ways to cope with the trauma which ultimately lead to substance abuse, high rates of poverty, domestic violence, depression, and suicide. Studies show that mourning that has not been completed results in depression and can be absorbed by children from birth. Aside from being passed down genetically, historical trauma can also be transmitted intergenerationally as people can identify emotionally with ancestral suffering. Generational trauma can affect whole communities in a number of different ways. These can include the breakdown of traditional culture and values, the loss of traditional rites of passage, and high rates of alcoholism.

The Opioid Addiction Crisis and Racism: A Long Troubled History Generational trauma also includes post traumatic stress disorder. In the article The Opioid Addiction Crisis and Racism: A long troubled history, the article mentions that those that served in the Civil War were more likely to become addicted to opioids. Opioids were first made legal during the Civil War period and were often used to ease pain of soldiers that had gunshot wounds, traumatic nerve injuries, or had just gone through an amputation surgery. By 1865, Opioid addiction reached epidemic levels for the first time, after a dramatic increase in opioid use. Often when soldiers returned home they would continue to use opioids because it helped alleviate the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. According to medical journals during the late 1860s, many described opium as “the most indispensable drug on the battlefield...important to the surgeon as gunpowder to the ordinance.” Which really amplifies the dependency of opioids that people in the field saw first hand. The article also mentions that obtaining the drugs during these times was not terribly difficult seeing that there were few legal restrictions of opioids in the 20th century.

Decolonizing Substance Use & Addiction

Decolonization is something that Indigenous people around the world have been putting their best effort into to turn around the affects of cultural genocide. The definition of decolonization is to deconstruct, dismantle, and disrupt cultural barriers that separate us and may sometimes oppress us. TED talk presenter, Len Pierre, is a indigenous man from Canada. He talks about the importance of looking at addiction to opioids or addiction in a general sense through the lense of decolonization. Which means taking in the trauma that stems from cultural oppression into consideration, this would include residential schools, the 60’s scoop, land theft, and many more. Which all left behind residues of their own. These consisted of poverty, lack of housing, and loss of freedom which ultimately lead to trauma, grief, loss, stress, and loss. He also mentions that Indigenous peoples’ make up 3% of the overall population and 13% of overdose deaths, unfortunately this would average to about 4 deaths a day. He also stresses the necessity and urgency to continue the conversation, even though the topic is sensitive. Stating that “if we are not talking about this [the opioid epidemic] we are not sharing facts and data with one another.” Which in turn will be detrimental to getting people struggling with addiction the help that they may need.

Addressing the Opioid Crisis in Native American Communities: The Role of Environmental Health Specialists

The opioid crisis within Native American Communities is still an ongoing issue. Though it might not always be seen first hand, the severity of the deadly epidemic must not be kept under wraps. In this article, I learned about a couple different ways tribes in Arizona were treating the epidemic. The first involves ensuring that medications kept in the household are safely stored. This was done by installing medication lock boxes within the households of elders on the reservation. They had immense success in this as a total of 101 elders from several Arizona tribal communities had been installed. They also ensured safety through medication disposal drop boxes that were installed inside community based clinics. They continue to advocate for disposal boxes to be implemented at hospitals, clinics, and law enforcement departments. According to the article, 571 pounds of medication have been discarded in drop boxes installed. Providing multiple ways for tribal residents to dispose of expired medications, they also created drug deactivation bags. These bags contain a carbon powder that neutralizes medications when warm water is added. After medications have dissolved and deactivated they are safe for domestic trash disposal. To date 2,611 pills, 777 mL of liquid medicine, and medicated patches have been discarded. Another course of treatment used is distributing Naloxone (Narcan) to those that are showing signs of an overdose. Naloxone can be distributed through a shot or a nasal spray.

Medication-Assisted Treatment of Adolescents With Opioid Use Disorders

Treatment options available for adolescents and young adults are a bit different than those available for adults. Opioid Addiction is a chronic condition that results in neurologic changes in the reward center of the brain. Which is responsible for cravings and compulsive substance use. This can result in a change of the functioning range within a developing brain, though some may continue to do well in school and other areas of life. Medication-assisted treatment for adolescents includes medications like methadone, naltrexone, and the newest, buprenorphine. Methadone is an opioid. Though it does the opposite of what a different opioid would do. This one sort of reverses the effect of the intense euphoria followed by intense withdrawal associated with opioid use. However, federal regulations prohibit most methadone programs from treating patients under the age of 18. Naltrexone is another medication-assisted treatment option. However this medication has limited potential for misuse and diversion, extended-release formulation may reduce patient adherence. Unfortunately, there is not enough research support for the efficiency in adolescents that would make it a promising practice. Naltrexone is also known for reducing alcohol cravings which can be a good treatment option for those that also struggle with a co-occurring alcohol use disorder. In 2002, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of buprenorphine for patients that are 16 years and older. This treatment option is very similar to methadone, it ameliorates the highs and lows associated with opioids. To date, there has not been any research and clinical experience to have any age-specific safety concerns. There have been studies done at a facility named Knudsen that found that less than 50% of 345 addiction treatment programs serving adolescents and adults offer patients medication-assisted treatment options. Medication in these programs is significantly underutilized. The same study also showed that only 34% of patients in treatment receive medications. For comparison, 70% of patients with mental health disorders receive medications for their treatments. This may be the effect of policies, attitudes, and messages that prevent patients from accessing medication that may be harmful to adolescent health.

“It's Really Truly Everywhere”: How the Opioid Crisis Worsened with COVID-19

Covid-19 had many different effects on global issues. Some we saw with our own eyes within our very own communities and some were broadcasted over international news channels. We were all aware of political, social, personal, and economic issues. In Shanoor Seervai’s podcast “The Dose” she is accompanied by Brendan Saloner and Jesse Baumgartner. Throughout this podcast they talk about why drug overdose deaths are on the rise and what policymakers are doing/can do to fix the problem. They first start out by talking about the increase in overdoses since the start of the pandemic. Initially there was a decrease in the amount of overdose related cases but at the very start of the pandemic you could see the significant increase. Within a few months cases reached a level that was 50 percent higher than ever seen before. The spread of COVID-19 also seemed to spread the use of opioids used to receive a high. Western states in the US saw an drastic increase in overdoses. They deemed this as the leading cause for the trend in overdoses. Economic stress was a major factor in the increase. They believe that because of economic stress some people ended up losing their homes and may have turned to drugs to cope. However, for some people the pandemic truly changed how much they used while in lockdown because it changed their social networks. It gave them opportunities to change the view of their own lives and apply it to their addictions.

Pain and Addiction: The Opioid Crisis That Continues to Trend Upwards

Our interconnectedness is what brings society together when dealing with issues that may affect the present and our future. The opioid epidemic is one of them. In Washington, D.C., Dr. Chikarlo Leak, has been researching the opioid epidemic fatalities by looking at overdose cases. Monthly fatal overdoses in 2019 were at 23 but skyrocketed at the start of the pandemic with 34 monthly overdoses. Though they don’t really see a reason for this they contribute a lot of causes to poverty and unemployment that had significant increases since the start of the pandemic. Saleema Snow, a professor at UDC, mentioned that conversations that surround addiction widen once you look at how race and socioeconomic factors intersect. Stating that, “this issue stems back decades to former administrations that spearheaded 'war on drugs' policies that disproportionately affected Black people”. She further stresses that in order to make change community-based approaches should be implemented to see more successful outcomes.

It’s Time to Make a Lasting Change in the Opioid Epidemic

The history of OxyContin began in 1996 when it became one the most popular painkillers, it was referred to as the “wonder drug”. It almost became immediately abused and fifteen years later it became reformulated to make it resistant to be crushed up and became a more restricted substance. However, because of this those already addicted sought out cheaper alternatives such as heroin. As the recreational use of opioids among adolescents has been on the rise. The rise in addiction can be linked from generation to generation, studies have shown that genetics accounts for 50%-60% of the risk associated with addiction. Addiction is something that people tend to sweep under the rug as it may make them uncomfortable. Other factors may be poverty, unemployment, generational trauma, and increased access to drugs. Law enforcement in Big Rapids, Michigan have found that they see abuse in opioids in high school students and the two main substances abused were Adderall and OxyContin. All of which were easily taken from friends and loved ones' bathrooms. They had also cracked down on substances being sold in parking lots and public bathrooms.

VICE: The Opioid Crisis Sweeping Africa

In this video, host Jamie Clifton talks about the rise in popularity of a synthetic opioid called Tramadol which is 10x cheaper than morphine. The crisis there skyrocketed in 2017 when 3 tons of tramadol was seized. The reason that African citizens are taking this opioid is that it helps them not feel tired while working in the mines. One mineworker went on to say, “when I’m lying in my coffin, I’ll still have that pill in my pocket.” Environmental research analysts have also found that plants are showing traces of the synthetic opioid and are worried that heavy use of opioids is draining into sewage systems through urine. Soon after dairy companies found traces of it in cattle milk which lead them to believe that farmers are giving it to their cattle to help them cope with the harsh conditions. Another issue they faced was not having rehabilitation centers in cities. If they happened to have one it would only be in a major city and not fully equipped with the tools or professionals needed to help you. They have all other prescription painkillers banned so tramadol is the only pain reliever that they have and even when they enforced stronger restrictions many people were smuggling opioids through the border. These drugs were manufactured in neighboring countries which only led to an increase in overdoses because they didn’t know what they were taking.