Oklahoma tribes step up fight against meth

After the National Congress of American Indians announced a renewed anti-methamphetamine initiative at a November 2007 meeting, a burst of training and prevention has cropped up among state tribes.

In the Chena pow wow building of the Iowa Tribe in Perkins, tribal employees are learning to identify the telltale signs of methamphetamine in housing projects.

Harrah Police Department narcotics officer Jay T. Barton told the group about contamination, identification and jurisdiction.

He walked them through the process of identifying paraphernalia that might show that someone is manufacturing meth in a tribal housing unit.

Barton said Indian country is doubly vulnerable to methamphetamine.

Drug use among non-Indian populations also touches tribes because users might gravitate to tribal casinos, where they are lured by the possibility of money and around-the-clock hours.

Oklahoma's unique jurisdictional situation complicates the issue of arresting offenders.

All casinos are located on federal trust land, which is off-limits to state and local law enforcement unless there is a cross-jurisdictional agreement between the tribe and a municipality. Most tribes just want the offender off the premises, Barton said.

''Jurisdictional issues are the Catch-22 in controlling meth use and prosecution on Indian land,'' he said.


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