The national opioid epidemic is severely impacting Indian Country. In this article, we draw upon data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to describe the contours of this crisis among Native Americans. While these data are subject to significant limitations, we show that Native American opioid overdose mortality rates have grown substantially over the last seventeen years. We further find that this increase appears to at least parallel increases seen among non-Hispanic whites, who are often thought to be uniquely affected by this crisis. We then profile tribal medical and legal responses to the opioid epidemic, ranging from tribally-operated medication-assisted therapy to drug diversion courts rooted in traditional tribal cultures.
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We refer to the indigenous inhabitants of the lands that now comprise the United States in two different ways. In Part II, we use the term American Indian/Alaska Native (“AI/AN”) to comport with the use of this term in statistical data and the medical literature. Elsewhere, we use the term Native American. To indicate the nation-wide community of Native Americans, we use the widely-accepted term Indian Country in its generic, not statutory, sense. See 18 U.S.C. § 1151 (2012).
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