Hsm/210 Week6

The esteemed Benjamin Franklin once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” In the case of Native American Substance abuse, this could not be truer. Primary prevention strategies help “prevent a disorder, disability or dysfunction from occurring in the first place.” (Burger, W. R., & Youkeles, M. (2004). Generations of Native Americans have suffered from substance abuse issues, but with hope and intervention perhaps some of the future generations can avoid this serious malady. The question stands: What can the native people themselves, the public and the United States government do to aid in the prevention of drug and alcohol abuse within this target population?

Preventative intervention takes many forms; education, in-home prevention (including child welfare and other social programs), law enforcement involvement, clinical prevention, and support services. All these aspects are important in helping people make critical choices which can sway them toward abuse or to the opposite end of the pendulum, sobriety. To identify which solution best fits indigenous people, it must first be recognized that no matter what services are offered, the major stumbling blocks are communication, cultural differences and funding. The message that there are other options to the hopelessness, helplessness and poverty which often drives substance abuse goes unheard and unheeded if there is no reliable way to deliver it.

The best solution to making Native people aware of the severity of the abuse of drugs and alcohol has long been a question argued by government agencies with little input from the people themselves. This target (cultural) group is unique by many standards. A few include remoteness from agencies which could offer help, varied languages, Sovereign Nation status which breeds isolation and cultural diversity from other Native American nations and the American public, increased addiction behavior, and inability to trust outsiders based on past...