Our country is in the throes of an opioid epidemic and a
major meth crisis. Let me repeat some of
the statistics you may have already heard.
There were about 8,000 overdose deaths in America in 1990. But in 2016, an estimated 64,000 Americans
died of drug overdoses. As the Deputy
Attorney General has pointed out, our country lost more Americans in 2016 to
overdoses than in battle during the entire Vietnam War. Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of
death for Americans under the age of 50.
Native American communities have been hit particularly hard
by drugs. We know from the most recent
DEA National Drug Threat Assessment that while the drug threat in Indian
Country varies by region, meth and marijuana are the most widely used illegal
substances, while heroin and prescription drug use has increased in many
areas. Between 2015 and 2016, BIA Field
Agents reported a 56 percent increase in heroin seizures and a 109 percent
increase in meth seizures. Native
American substance abuse disorder rates are about twice that of the overall
population. And according to the Center
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American Indian and Alaskan Native
people had the highest drug overdose death rate in 2015.
In Montana, we are seeing the same problems. Tribal councils report substantial meth
dealing and use, and growing opioid use.
In 2016, nearly half of infants born in one reservation county were at
risk for neonatal abstinence syndrome.
While in 2017, 44 percent of the pregnant women seeking care in another
tribal health care center tested positive for opioids or other substances. Both on and off reservations, substance abuse
is causing overcrowded jails, burdened emergency rooms, and overwhelmed
treatment programs. In Billings, which
is the largest town close to several reservations, child abuse and neglect
cases increased from 173 in 2011 to 531 in 2016, and 266 involved meth. Forty-three percent of those cases involved
children who are tribal members or eligible for tribal membership.
Of course, of significant concern to us in law enforcement
is the impact trafficking and substance abuse has on public safety. Last year, Attorney General Sessions directed
all U.S. Attorneys to reinvigorate Project Safe Neighborhoods, a comprehensive
approach with state, local and tribal law enforcement partners to aggressively
enforce the law, and to form partnerships with communities and organizations to
help prevent crime and promote public safety.
While reinvigorating Project Safe Neighborhoods in Montana this past
year, we heard consistently from law enforcement that meth is the major cause
of our state’s almost 35 percent increase in violent crime between 2010 and
2016. We are seeing increasing dealer on
dealer violence, armed robberies of casinos and convenience stores, and violent
acts committed by meth users.
As everyone in this room knows, these problems are not just
apparent in sterile statistics. There is
always a real person behind each number.
Within a few weeks on one Montana reservation, two horrible
meth related crimes were committed.
In April 2016, Janelle Red Dog was babysitting one-year-old
Kensely Olson. Little Kensely was
fussing, so Red Dog hit her in the head causing a seizure. Rather than getting the baby help, she put
the baby in a bedroom and had a friend over to use meth. Hours later, Red Dog said she decided to take
the baby to the hospital, but on the way she thought the baby died, so she
stuffed little Kensely’s body in a duffel bag, threw the bag in a dumpster and
returned home to go to sleep. Red Dog
was convicted of murder.
A few weeks earlier on the same reservation, a 22-year-old
man kidnapped a four-year-old girl from a playground. He physically and sexually abused her and
left her for dead in a pickup truck where she was found four days later. The defendant was convicted and sentenced to
500 months in prison.
Tribal leaders said these crimes were rooted in the rising
scourge of meth on that reservation.
These most serious problems demand our best responses . . .
and deserve our best efforts.
Many good responses have already started to reduce supply
and demand:
The opioid epidemic is a top priority for the President and
the Attorney General. Last year, the
Attorney General announced the formation of the Justice Department’s Opioid
Fraud and Detection Unit. The
prosecutors use data to identify and prosecute health care fraud related to the
diversion of prescription opioids.
So many of our good responses are successful because they
result from partnerships with Native Communities. I encourage all of us to support any positive
efforts they put forth.
An opportunity to leverage tribal partnerships is DEA’s Drug
Take Back Days. The last one, on April
28, gathered almost one million pounds of pills. In American Indian and Alaska Native
communities, DEA collaborated with the BIA, and engaged 80 law enforcement
partners at 142 sites. They netted
almost 2,270 pounds of pills. The next
Take Back Day will be this fall. I
encourage all of us to keep working with our tribal partners to get even more
pills out of Indian Country.
To effectively reduce supply, we know we need the resources
to do our job. We were all pleased to
hear that BIA recently received $7.5 million for this purpose and is hiring 17
new Drug Agents. Because resources are
so important, the Native American Issues Subcommittee has recently formed a law
enforcement resources working group to work on this issue.
But let’s not wait for more help. Let’s go find and bring together the
resources that do exist. We need to
commit to our drug task forces and support them however we can. In times of tight budgets, we all know local
and tribal law enforcement are pressured to have officers respond to reactive
crime instead of investigating drug organizations. We need to convince our partners that by
working with us in drug task forces and taking down drug trafficking
organizations, they will actually do more to reduce crime . . . and then we
need to prove them right.
Where task forces do not exist we need to look for motivated
partners to create them – whether the task forces are formal or informal. In addition to tribal partners, let’s find
other willing federal, state and local partners in the area, and one size does
not have to fit all.
For example, in Montana, we’re trying any response that
works to leverage cooperation:
On two reservations in Montana the DEA and BIA are
spearheading a push to investigate the drug trafficking networks that are
supplying these communities.
In another reservation, BIA has been awarded a drug
agent. FBI is now exploring the availability
of partners – including the new BIA drug agent, U.S. Border Patrol, the state
drug investigation unit, highway patrol, sheriff’s deputies, and city and
tribal police officers - to form a Safe Trails Task Force.
And for two smaller reservations close to each other with a
larger town between, we are exploring options to better support the Indian
Country work of a local police-driven task force.
We are also trying to support High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Areas (HIDTAs) in the larger towns serving as distribution hubs to
Montana reservations in order to interdict drug supply before it gets to them.
Perhaps the most important step we’ve taken to reduce drug
supply is creating a statewide drug enforcement group of all drug task force
leaders, and federal, state and tribal law enforcement entities doing drug
enforcement work. We’re sharing
investigations and intelligence, and coordinating training and resources.
By including agencies like the state highway patrol, U.S.
Border Patrol and Postal Inspection Services in the group, all law enforcement
has a better understanding of all of the major ways drugs are entering our
state. I expect this will help us better
focus on reducing the flow of drugs into our state.
We are also trying to better coordinate prosecutions among
federal, state, tribal and county prosecutors to move cases quicker and to be
sure we account for every member of a drug conspiracy by either charging them
or diverting them to treatment.
At the end of the day, everyone in this room knows that how
effective we are in reducing drug supply depends on our resources, and the
energy and leadership we show other law enforcement who work with us.
But reducing supply is only half the battle. We also need to help reduce demand for drugs.
Although this conference is mostly about enforcement and
supply reduction, I’d encourage you to learn some of the highlights of federal
funds available to tribes for prevention, treatment and diversion so you can
encourage tribal leaders to apply.
Most Department of Justice grants available to tribes are
offered through the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation or “CTAS”, a
streamlined grant program that is providing $101 million to American Indian and
Alaska Native communities this year to enhance law enforcement practices and
sustain crime prevention and intervention efforts. In addition, the Bureau of Justice Assistance
recently held a seminar outlining many of the grant opportunities for next
year. It was recorded and will soon be
available on the Tribal Justice Website, www.justice.gov/tribal. I encourage you to tell your tribal partners
about the seminar if they don’t already know.
These grants are significant. For
example, in 2018, Congress provided $35 million for Tribal Assistance, $5
million for Tribal Youth Programs, and $30 million for the Tribal Resources
Grant Program.
Here are a few other noteworthy highlights for 2018 for you
to share with your tribal contacts:
First is our Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Program which is run
by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. Its
goals are to reduce opioid misuse and overdose fatalities; and support the use
of prescription drug monitoring programs to assist clinical decision-making and
prevent the misuse and diversion of controlled substances. Sample grants to tribes include: funds to the Seneca Nation Peacemakers Courts
to create a culturally competent diversion project aimed at helping Native
American opioid users; and funds to the Port Gamble S’Kallam Tribe to support
veterans’ courts and programs.
Mary Daly announced here yesterday that the Office for
Victims of Crime is offering a grant that could be a “game changer” for some
tribes. Congress earmarked three percent
of the Crime Victim Fund to grants for tribal programs. This means that tribes have until August 6 to
apply for up to $110 million for a broad range of victim services – including
domestic violence, mental health and substance abuse. In short order, you can notify your tribal
contacts that there will be a webinar on this opportunity tomorrow, June 28 at
2 pm eastern. It will be recorded and
available on the Office for Victims of Crime’s website.
Substance abuse in Indian Country is an issue receiving
attention at the highest levels of our agencies and government. I am vice-chair of the Native American Issues
Subcommittee of the Attorney General’s Advisory Council. We have recognized the importance of drug and
related violence issues in Indian Country and formed standing working groups to
address substance abuse, violent crime, and law enforcement resources. I can tell you that the U. S. Attorneys who
serve on these groups are energized and motivated to reduce drug use and
related violent crime.
Also, the Indian Country Law Enforcement Coordination
Working Group, co-chaired by the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Indian
Affairs is helping coordinate federal law enforcement in tribal
communities. The group includes
representatives from 13 federal law enforcement agencies and has focused
heavily on the opioid epidemic and coordinating responses to the problem.
As you finish the rest of this conference and after you
return home, I encourage you to keep thinking of better ways we can attack
these problems at home or on a regional or national level. Drug traffickers are always changing and
improving their methods. We need to do
the same. Feed your ideas to your
agency, your partner agencies, or feel free to call me.
Let’s also commit to improving how we do our jobs day to day
– as you’ve done by attending this conference.
The Department of Justice, often in coordination with BIA, offers
trainings in opioid trends, changing investigative techniques, drug handling
precautions, naloxone use, and indicators that opioids are in the community.
In addition, the Executive Office for U. S. Attorneys
carries out the National Indian Country Training Initiative which includes
training for federal and tribal investigators and prosecutors on topics such as
drug-related offenses in Indian Country.
The training initiative, together with SAMHSA and the Bureau of Justice
Assistance, also hosts a yearly training to help tribes create a Tribal Action
Plan to combat alcohol and substance abuse among tribal members. This type of comprehensive planning is
critical to minimizing drug use in a community.
As these trainings are offered, I encourage you to attend
those that are helpful to you, but also to invite tribal leaders to attend
those that are helpful to them.
Last year, Mason Moore, a deputy sheriff in Montana was shot
and killed in the line of duty. Last
month, I had the honor of delivering a letter from Attorney General Sessions to
Jodi Moore, Deputy Moore’s widow, their twin junior high boys and elementary
daughter. I got to thank Ms. Moore for
her family’s sacrifice and tell the children that their dad is a hero.
Last year, 129 law enforcement officers were killed in the
line of duty, and over 58,000 were assaulted.
There are some who say the work we do at best doesn’t make
any difference, and at worst puts people in prison who shouldn’t be there. I’m here to tell you that’s not true. The work you do makes a big difference in
lives, in families and in communities. I
and all Americans owe you a debt of gratitude for putting your life on the line
every day, just like Deputy Moore and the other 128 officers who died last
year. You are making a difference, and
you see it in the lives of those hurt by drug related violent crime, those in
the grip of addiction, and those family and friends who share the consequences.
Thank you.
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