Looking at addiction in different ways

For the Wabanaki peoples and their supporters, a clear message has emerged in recent years: The best way to combat the many challenges facing Native communities, including drug and alcohol abuse, is through a firm connection with their rich culture. Wabanaki Public Health has embraced this pathway and is conducting outreach in hotspots throughout the state to teach professionals how to advocate prevention through cultural emphasis. The most recent Culture is Prevention workshop took place on Tuesday, April 9, at the Wabanaki Culture Center in Calais.
During the workshop, Saige Purser, substance use disorder coordinator with Wabanaki Public Health, addressed why prevention‑oriented programs are so needed. Tribal communities are faced with a large number of health disparities -- including higher mortality from virtually all causes -- based on systemic health inequities, including reduced access to support resources and increased risk factors based on historical trauma. It culminates in high levels of addiction and depression.
According to Purser, Natives are routinely told they have a significantly higher chance of diabetes, heart disease and a range of chronic, life‑limiting ailments -- statements that may not always be backed up by medical research but which can impose additional psychological stress and further worsen outcomes when additional support isn't provided.
Another major health challenge is simply a lack of access to fresh produce. This is a distinct departure from the past, when tribal communities were self‑sufficient. While there is still some connection to the land, such as the still‑contested Penobscot River, Natives cannot sustain themselves off the fish from the river any longer because of the industrial contamination. "So, even if we had the knowledge, they are polluted, so we cannot consume them," Purser says.
Purser described how some policies instituted federally and reinforced by tribes serve to introduce further challenges to cultural survival, including blood quantum policies. According to blood quantum policies, individuals without a sufficient amount of Native blood cannot receive benefits or claim themselves to be part of a tribe. "Blood quantum is a way of erasing people," Purser says. "It's a kind of genocide."
With both past and present forms of oppression in place, young Natives are highly vulnerable to making negative health choices -- unless their culture intervenes. Purser relayed the recorded responses from members of the Penobscot Youth Council to a series of questions to illustrate their mindset. Asked to identify the biggest problem for Native youth, the group responded racism. "I hear it a lot from the Calais High School. Old Town. Orono. Instances in which this has happened," Purser says. "It's real, it's happening and they're feeling it."
The biggest influences on drug use for the members of the youth council include older peers, parents, the pervasiveness of drug use in the community and depression. Asked what they wanted people to know about Maine Natives, the group said, according to Purser, "We're not your mascot. We're more than a reservation."
With positive reinforcements of culture in place, such as Wabanaki Public Health's intertribal gathering and its ongoing efforts to connect with Native youths, community outcomes improve, Purser said. "That's why we do culture is prevention. It works. Culture is important," Purser says.
Outside of the value that stems from organizing youth activities for Native and non‑Natives alike, progress is being made to reduce inequities in Maine communities. Some of that is happening on the federal end, as described by workshop attendee Andrea Sockabasin, youth prevention coordinator for Wabanaki Public Health.
Sockabasin shared how the Maliseet community has won a wellness grant from the Centers for Disease Control to promote traditional activities for health purposes. In the past, such grants would have come with reporting requirements that were difficult if not impossible to meet for indigenous communities, but the organization is adapting. Along with coordinating fiddlehead harvesting, the Maliseet group has organized traditional snowshoeing, sweat lodge ceremonies, sacred medicines workshops and more, most of which is aimed at the youth. "The youth are our future," Sockabasin says. "If we don't invest in them now, we won't have a future."