| American Indians and Alaska Natives have higher | | | | Reservation. This leads to a widespread |
| rates of dependence on or abuse of | | | | prescription drug trade and more addicts than |
| psychotherapeutic drugs, painkillers and | | | | ever. Poverty also plays a role - investigators |
| tranquilizers than all other races, according to the | | | | have found elderly people selling their prescriptions |
| U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A | | | | to make ends meet. In remote communities like |
| recent news story in the Great Falls, Montana | | | | Heart Butte, a wind-battered village on the |
| Tribune detailing rampant prescription drug | | | | Blackfeet Reservation, residents point out "pill |
| addiction on Indian reservations in Montana and | | | | houses" where addicts can buy addictive painkillers |
| Wyoming attributes the crisis to a shortage of | | | | like OxyContin, Vicodin and morphine patches that |
| health care resulting in over-prescribing, made | | | | were originally prescribed by the IHS. Drug rehab |
| worse by a shortage of drug rehab facilities. | | | | counselors at the Fort Peck Reservation say |
| There were 5,170 Indian patients on the waiting | | | | addicts have been known to deliberately injure |
| list for elective surgeries last year in Montana and | | | | themselves to get more prescriptions. The |
| Wyoming. Local officials said Indian Health Service | | | | manager of a drug rehab and alcohol treatment |
| (IHS) doctors are overworked, and a budget crisis | | | | center run by the Blackfeet tribe and partially |
| within the IHS means patients wait months or | | | | funded by the IHS said there has been an |
| even years for surgeries. To tide them over, | | | | upswing of prescription opiate addicts. She said |
| doctors prescribe painkillers that are feeding the | | | | her staff could use more training on treating |
| epidemic. A worker at a drug and alcohol | | | | prescription drug addictions, because opiate addicts |
| treatment center in Montana's Indian Country said | | | | require more attention, may need up to six |
| when patients come to the hospital they are | | | | months of treatment, and the center has to |
| offered more pain pills rather than drug rehab. | | | | leave beds empty despite a waiting list. The |
| The fact that there is no charge for prescriptions | | | | center takes addicts from as far away as Alaska, |
| at IHS clinics helps fuel the sale of contraband pills | | | | california and Washington state because there are |
| - for example, a methadone tablet that was | | | | so few accredited, in-patient successful drug |
| obtained free sells for up to $20 on the Blackfeet | | | | rehab centers for Native Americans. |