Working with tribes and anti-drug experts, the federal government will invest $300,000 in a public education campaign aimed at reducing methamphetamine use in Indian Country.

At a press conference in Washington, D.C., Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced the initiative on National Methamphetamine Awareness Day. "The well being of Indian Country hangs in the balance," the former governor of Idaho said.

Joining Kempthorne at the National Press Club was Carole Lankford, the vice chairwoman of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana. Her family has been directly affected by meth, a drug that is contributing to more and child welfare cases on the Flathead Reservation.

"Just recently, a baby in my community was born dead with six different drugs in its system," Lankford said. "When something like this happens, it hurts. It hurts so bad."

Jackie Johnson, the executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, said tribes nationwide have come forward with similar stories. "We're targeted because of the lack of law enforcement" and the remote nature of reservations, she said.

But Lankford and Johnson expressed hope that the public education campaign will make inroads in the fight against meth. "The money at home, on the ground, is what's going to make a difference," said Lankford.

The initiative is a joint effort of NCAI, Interior, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the non-profit Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA). The groups will develop cultural-specific messages and educational materials for tribal communities.

"We're going to be up and running on this in 2007," said Steve Pasierb, the president and CEO of the PDFA.

The project consists of three phases. In the first, NCAI's meth task force will work with the PDFA to finalize research into the meth problem on reservations.

In the second, NCAI and PDFA will develop anti-meth messages for public dissemination. The final phase consists of radio, print and educational materials targeting reservations.

"We have never before had a campaign like this," said Johnson, who described it as "ground-breaking."

To carry out the effort, Interior is contributing $100,000, half of which is coming from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs and the other half from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

HHS is contributing $50,000 and the Office of National Drug Control Policy is contributing $150,000.

The radio and print ads will be made available in the next few months, the groups said. Further down the line, NCAI has already identified more projects that could be used to warn Native youth and tribal leaders about the dangers of meth.

Relevant Documents:
Press Release: Coalition Announces $300,000 for Public Awareness Campaign (November 30, 2006)

Relevant Links:
National Congress of American Indians - http://www.ncai.org
Office of National Drug Control Policy - http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov
Partnership for a Drug-Free America - http://www.drugfree.org
Montana Meth Project - http://www.montanameth.org