There has been an explosion in health care fraud targeting Native Americans who may be in need of drug treatment services. From the reading I have done, I can’t tell if this is a Covid-19 phenomenon or whether it has been pervasive but unrecognized previously. The most vulnerable of the most vulnerable in society are being preyed upon by devious con artists and sociopaths. We need an awareness campaign throughout Indian country to bring light to this radical exploitation that is happening.
The following articles discuss how this fraud is perpetrated:
Native News Online
“Arizona Investigating Multi-Million Dollar Medicaid Scheme Targeting Native Americans”
Darren Thompson
May 17, 2023
“PHOENIX— More than 100 Arizona healthcare providers are under investigation for insurance fraud that targeted Native Americans and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
In a press conference yesterday, state officials and representatives from 13 of the state’s federally recognized tribes announced efforts to crack down on Medicaid fraud, including cutting off payments to the suspended providers pending an investigation by state and federal officials.
“Today, we are announcing actions against over 100 providers of behavioral health, residential and outpatient treatment services,” Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said at Tuesday’s press conference. “We have credible reason to believe that they defrauded the state’s Medicaid program of hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Many of the providers operate facilities that are licensed to operate a residential treatment facility — or “sober living home” as they are generally referred to in the state. Arizona law enforcement authorities and the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) have received reports that allege that many of the named facilities do not actually provide the services they are paid to provide. Instead, patients are untreated, sometimes given drugs and alcohol and enrolled in the AHCCC’s American Indian Health Plan (AIHP), which pays the facilities for services.
State and tribal leaders said that the organizations committing these acts of fraud are targeting vulnerable populations and creating a widespread humanitarian crisis.
“People are left in these homes without proper access to healthcare and treatment services,” Hobbs said. “Instead, they are allowed — and sometimes encouraged — to continue using drugs and alcohol. Often, they are not allowed to leave the facilities and not allowed to contact relatives … this disproportionately affects Arizona’s Tribal communities.”
AIHP pays for health assessments, screening tests, immunizations, and health education. It also provides coverage for preventive and behavioral health care services, such as intensive outpatient treatment, psychosocial rehabilitation, and individual, group, or family counseling and therapy.
Prior to May 1, 2023, the AHIP rate for providing services to individuals receiving addiction treatment was approximately $1,400 per day for each client billed under the “alcohol and/or drug services” code. As of May 1, the rate dropped to $156 per day for each client, leaving many providers in good standing challenged to provide services with fewer resources.
Sometimes, owners of sober living facilities have little to no healthcare background or lack proper credentials or interest in behavioral health. Instead, they partner with a licensed and credentialed healthcare provider — such as a licensed therapist or medical doctor — to sign off on documents required for billing an individual enrolled in the state’s healthcare plan.
In some situations, owners allegedly forged or stole the signatures of licensed providers to fake medical notes.
Elizabeth Bryant, a Cherokee Nation citizen and psychiatric nurse practitioner in the Phoenix Area, said in an interview with Native News Online that it’s a known and common practice among some owners of residential treatment facilities in the region to engage in such fraudulent activity. In 2020, not long after she became a licensed nurse practitioner, she was contacted by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for an investigation regarding insurance fraud.
“The Attorney General’s Office told me I was a victim of a crime and that one of the organizations I was working for was cutting and pasting my electronic signature block on evaluations I never completed,” Bryant said.
Bryant said she was terminated from her job because she refused to change evaluation dates for the company.
“When I refused to make changes to evaluations that were not true, they let me go immediately,” she said.
In the last several months, news agencies have reported activities by organizations that claim to provide behavioral health services in Arizona.
Some of the reports include Navajo Nation citizens being picked up in white vans or SUVs and being taken off tribal lands to sober living facilities. Some people have been reported as missing and, in some situations, have been found in behavioral health facilities in Arizona. Victims are often left abandoned, with no way to get home.
By the time the state finds out about these fraudulent operations, facilities have changed their names or simply closed operations.
“These providers have taken advantage of vulnerable individuals, particularly in tribal communities, and profited off their pain and suffering rather than providing real care,” Hobbs said at Tuesday’s press conference.
The state announced that it will prosecute existing “bad actors” in the insurance scheme that have influenced others to take advantage of the insurance monies. In addition, the state is hiring a third party to investigate all insurance claims made to AHCCCS since 2019. It also said that AHCCCS is not involved in any fraudulent activities.
In an email to Native News Online, Heidi Capriotti, a public information officer for AHCCCS, wrote: “While AHCCCS has no regulatory authority over sober living homes, we recognize that some members reside in them and may receive services from AHCCCS-enrolled outpatient providers. Of providers over which AHCCCS does have regulatory oversight, the agency has terminated 270 enrolled providers since January 2022 for various reasons, including exclusions, reported facility closures, fraudulent findings, and other matters related to the integrity of the Medicaid program.”
The state also said it is identifying solutions and services for people affected by immediate closures and will not entertain making access to healthcare more difficult for an already vulnerable population.
The Navajo Nation announced that it is launching “Operation Rainbow Bridge,” a Tribe-operated emergency center in the Phoenix area that will assist enrolled members with finding a credible and licensed facility.
“This crisis is a direct result of the predatory practices of many behavioral health facilities that have targeted our tribal members who are in most in need,” said Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community President Martin Harvier at Tuesday’s press conference.”
Cronkite News Arizona PBS
“FBI investigates rehab scams targeting Indigenous community”
Alexandra Aley
March 21, 2023
“PHOENIX – The FBI is investigating scams by fake rehab groups that target the Indigenous community, offering substance-abuse recovery or mental-health services at pop-up facilities to rake in government money, FBI officials say.
Bogus organizers defraud the government out of money meant to help people at their most vulnerable, Phoenix FBI Agent Kevin Smith said. The fraud starts when scammers scout potential victims by going to places as varied as flea markets and medical centers – even to Navajo Nation lands. They then offer to take people to a facility for help. Instead, people are taken to short-term rental, “sober living,” homes in the Phoenix area. But they do not receive the help that is promised.
Smith, by email, said he is unsure of the total number of cases, adding that the investigation is ongoing.
The FBI said in a statement that people may be intoxicated or “offered alcohol” on the drive to a home. “Later, they have no idea where they are or how they got there,” the statement said. “The individuals then have difficulty finding a way home. The circumstances have led to a number of missing persons reports being received by local law enforcement agencies.”
The situation, first reported in The Arizona Republic, has led to Native Americans reaching out to tribal leadership, according to its website, azcentral.com.
The targets are told to sign paperwork to take advantage of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state’s Medicaid agency for low-income residents. Under AHCCCS’s American Indian Health Program, health care providers can receive funding, including coverage for behavioral health care services, the FBI said.
The FBI statement says “organizers allegedly tell the tenants that they have to change their identification cards (driver’s license, etc.) to Arizona to obtain Arizona Medicaid benefits.”
Special Agent Antoinette Ferrari said the fraud is a federal crime against members of Indigenous communities. “They are being taken off reservations and exploited,” Ferrari said.
Ferrari also said state health officials should be diligent when they review documents for funding, to better detect possible fraud. AHCCCS officials did not return requests for comment.
Smith said that the fraud happened intermittently in 2020 and picked up again in 2022, but it’s unclear how organized it really is. Smith didn’t characterize the number of cases.
According to 12 News, the Navajo Police Department also has been investigating the situation, looking into at least 60 cases in Tuba City as of December.
“From our perspective, this is happening because people are greedy,” Smith said. The FBI asks alleged victims to contact the agency for help.”
Albuquerque Journal
“They were promised help in getting sober and a fresh start. Instead they ended up stranded in Arizona.”
Elise Kaplan
May 13, 2023
“About two months ago a white van pulled up next to Steve Valdez on the streets of Southeast Albuquerque and asked if he wanted to go to rehab.
Those inside offered him $100 for each person he got to go with him and promised that they could all stay together in a group home in Phoenix while they got treatment. They emphasized that he’d have to get food stamps and promised that after 12 days they’d get him a job.
The 53-year-old from the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in Towaoc, Colorado, told the Journal he was tempted to go — and he did want to get sober. But something about the situation seemed sketchy.
And then he was able to get some work doing roofing so he decided to pass up the opportunity. A couple of his friends were not so lucky.”
“t’s a story — about people luring victims across state lines, asking them to sign up for benefits to get treatment that they don’t actually provide and then leaving them stranded — echoed by many Indigenous people living on the streets in Albuquerque and Gallup.
Some know people who got in the van and have not returned. Or, like Valdez’s friends, they hitchhiked home from Phoenix, reporting that they were not provided services and were left alone to navigate the city.
Gallup police say they are still looking for 14 people who were reported missing over the past 18 months after they went to Arizona seeking treatment.
The FBI is now investigating a number of group homes for health care fraud, saying the organizers are “allegedly defrauding the insurance system.”
It’s unclear how many residential facilities are engaging in fraudulent practices. In response to questions, an FBI spokeswoman said the agency “continues to seek victims and/or any new information from people and families affected regarding this investigation.”
“Per FBI policy, we do not comment on ongoing investigations,” said Brooke Brennan, a spokeswoman for the agency in Arizona.
In a news release earlier this year, the FBI said they are aware that people are targeting Native Americans from the Navajo Nation and other reservations in Arizona, New Mexico and South Dakota and bringing them to behavioral health residential facilities in Phoenix for treatment for substance abuse and mental health issues. It said in some cases the victims are intoxicated or given alcohol on the trip.
When the patients arrive, the organizers ask them to get food through food stamps or change their driver’s license so they can get Arizona Medicaid benefits, according to the news release. The homes receive government funding to provide patients with therapy, but often “no therapy services are provided and thus no government funding should be received.”
The scheme has gained more media attention over the past several months and advocates have been widely sharing information on social media or on printed fliers. The Arizona State Legislature and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Task Force have discussed ways to take action on the issue.
But people are still falling victim to it.”
“The organizers of the group homes are no strangers around Gallup, said Barry Ore, the program director of Four Corners Detox Recovery Center in the border town.
“Countless programs have shown up knocking on our front door that we’ve sort of determined are not reputable,” Ore said. “They’re not only recruiting off the streets, but they’ll show up to the front door of your treatment center, knock on the door saying, ‘please call us.’”
Four Corners Detox Recovery Center is the only residential facility in Gallup. With 45 beds, it houses 30 people for 30-day stays and reserves the remainder for those who are detoxing.
The dearth of options in New Mexico makes facilities in Phoenix seem particularly appealing, Ore said.
“When you’re living in an environment with so few resources for treatment and with so few social resources, it’s compelling to go to a program like that,” he said. “Because of that resource disparity if somebody really wants help and it’s just not available in the community, they might in that moment feel like ‘oh, this is my chance.’ And so they’re more vulnerable.”
“In total 32 people who are believed to have gone to group homes were reported missing to the Gallup Police Department, said chief Erin Toadlena-Pablo. She said of 20 cases in 2022, three are still open, and of 12 cases in 2023, 11 are still being investigated. Most recently, on May 1, both a man and a woman were reported missing.
Over the past 18 months Gallup public service officers and detectives posted warnings on social media and distributed fliers to people on the streets who might not have phones or access to the internet about better ways to access treatment.
Toadlena-Pablo said they have been working with other agencies, including the Navajo Nation Police Department, the Albuquerque Police Department and the FBI, since the cases cross so many jurisdictions.
Sen. Shannon Pinto, D-Tohatchi, said she first heard about this issue when someone texted her a social media post last year. She forwarded it to Sen. Theresa Hatathlie, a Democratic member of the Arizona State Legislature, who this legislative session introduced a bill to impose certain requirements on behavioral health residential facilities and fine them if they do not comply.
Pinto said a lot of the solutions have to come through policy changes in Arizona or through federal investigations since it involves multiple states and the Navajo Nation.”
“But in New Mexico she would like to increase funding for services to treat addiction and keep people safe so they aren’t tempted to go elsewhere.
“I‘d like to see more funding dedicated, and see some things built out in the rural communities,” Pinto said. “I know in a way, some view it as a black eye for their communities to have something like that and so a lot of people say, ‘Oh, we don’t have no problem.’ I don’t think it’s just alcohol, it’s substance abuse, addiction.”
“In Phoenix, the Creating Hope AZ treatment facility gets calls a couple of times a week from people who say they are at a group home where they are being given alcohol and drugs and they want to leave to get help, said marketing manager Lacey Greer.
She said she started hearing about this scheme about two years ago and has been keeping track of places she’s “heard bad things about — drug use going on and no classes and that kind of thing.” So far she has hundreds of facilities on her list and she has heard there are more than 1,000.
Creating Hope AZ serves the Indigenous community and includes a spiritual elder, drumming circles, beading and therapists who specialize in intergenerational trauma, Greer said.”
““These other places have really given us a bad name,” she said. “So we’ve had to go through extra measures — which is not a problem — but to be extra transparent, offering tours for the family, sending out our license number to people, just really going above and beyond to make sure that people are feeling safe.”
Four Corners Detox Recovery Center refers patients to Creating Hope AZ and others they have vetted, Ore said. He said that for a lot of people it does make sense to travel out of state to get treatment so they can get out of a bad environment.
Ore said the publicity around the fraudulent group homes, while necessary to keep people safe, has also added more stigma around seeking treatment and more distrust of the providers.
“Often times if you’re approached on the street by somebody in a white van saying that they can take you to housing or anything like that, or a treatment, just be skeptical,” Ore said. “Ask more about their services, get their information first. I’d say to watch out for those red flags of offering money, alcohol or drugs to people to go to services, and especially out-of-state services.”
Sen. Hatathlie’s bill, which did not make it through the session, would have mandated that facilities notify a patient’s family that they are there. Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren, the first lady of the Navajo Nation, and Monica Antone, the lieutenant governor of the Gila River Indian Community, testified in support of the bill before the Senate Health and Human Services Committee in February.”
“However, providers, including Greer and Ore, raised concerns that it’s not always in the patient’s best interest to have family notified of their whereabouts and that they are receiving treatment. In addition, doing so may violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
During New Mexico’s legislative session this year, Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, sponsored a similar bill requiring family members to be notified when someone is admitted to a behavioral health residential facility. It passed the Senate in the final days of the 60-day session, but failed to pass the House.”
“In Albuquerque, Christine Barber, an advocate who works with women on the streets, said she and others working for nonprofits in the International District started hearing about the vans approaching people in January.
Since then she has encountered several people who went to the group home or were asked to go.
Barber shared a video she took in which a man recounted how he was taken to a motel in Phoenix.
The man said he spent about a week-and-a-half there before figuring out a way to get a ride to Gallup.”
“I think the biggest lie that I was told was that it would be a fresh start and I was able to get a job and turn my life around and start putting myself in a better habitat and working environment, sober living arrangement,” the man said.
On a recent afternoon, the Journal accompanied Barber as she drove around Southeast Albuquerque handing out water, hygiene supplies and more to people clustered in alleyways and on sidewalks.
Down a dusty dirt alley near Louisiana and Central, a man from the Jemez Pueblo recalled how last month he was walking down the street with his friend, girlfriend and brother when a van pulled over and its occupant approached him.
“Hey, would you guys be interested in getting your life straight?” the driver asked.
He was tempted, saying, “I’ve been tired of living on the street,” and started to ask questions like: “What about detox?” and whether the program was 30 days, 60 days, or 90 days?
The response: “It’s all paid for and we can leave today.”
Ultimately the 29-year-old — who didn’t want to give his name because he’s living on the streets and using fentanyl and doesn’t want family to know — decided the offer didn’t sound legitimate.
“I am ready to go back to treatment and to get my life straight again,” he said. “For some reason, I don’t know why, I stopped to talk to them because … I thought that might have been a good chance to go, but I knew that just going straight to sober living isn’t right.”
Native News Online
“’People don’t have time to grieve’/ Tribal nations turn to harm reduction in battle against opioids”
Elyse Wild
May 21, 2023
“A group of children from the Pala Band of Mission Indians was walking home from school in 2016 when they found a plastic bag holding 100 bright blue pills.
The kids tossed the bag back and forth as they walked to the tribe’s youth center, where they turned it into the staff.
The staff at the youth center quickly called law enforcement, who informed them the pills were fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.
That same year, 16 youths from the Pala Band of Mission Indians died of opioid overdoses. For the California tribe — which has a population of around 1,000— the losses were a devastating sign that the opioid epidemic had gained footing in their community.”
“Last month, the Pala Band took an innovative and important step to address the deadly opioid problem, installing a vending machine that dispenses a life-saving drug called Naloxone, which is more commonly known by the brand name Narcan.
The machine, situated at the Tribe’s fire department, has all of the appearances of a typical vending machine that sells soda, chips or candy. Behind the plexiglass front window of this machine, though, 100 vending slots hold doses of the Narcan drug, which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose within minutes. Users scan a QR code on the machine with their cell phone, and the machine dispenses a free dose.”
“Naloxone works by blocking the effects of opioids on the brain and restoring breathing. It is highly effective, reversing up to 93% of overdoses. Part of what makes it so effective is that it people can easily administer it.
The drug has proven essential to decreasing the mortality rate from opioid use. Increased distribution of Narcan among community members and first responders could prevent 21% of opioid overdose deaths, per the National Institute of Drug Abuse.
“We are trying to be preventative out here because we have lost so many lives,” Smith said.
“We are not going to stop it [opioid use], but we have to do something for prevention and to save people’s lives.”
The Pala Band’s vending machine was funded through San Diego County’s Naloxone Distribution Program, and is part of a nationwide trend of communities embracing harm reduction strategies and making Narcan accessible to community members.
Harm-reduction measures like the Pala Band’s vending machine are critical for Native communities — where opioid use is significantly higher than in other parts of the country, according to Arlene Brown, Bishop Paiute Tribe, who works as a recovery coordinator in a California hospital.
“None of us are not affected by this crisis,” Brown told Native News Online. “When we talk about it, these are people we know — sisters, uncles, relatives. You’re connected to them in some way, and that is a lot of loss and grief for a community to bear.”
Unprecedented Rates
More than 103,000 Americans died in opioid-related incidents in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That’s up more than 200% since 2000, according to CDC data.
While Americans of all races and ethnicities have been affected, the proliferation of opioid deaths has disproportionately affected Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, especially Indigenous people. In 2020, Native Americans’ opioid mortality increased 39% over the prior year — the second-highest rate of increase behind African Americans, according to the CDC.
Generational trauma and barriers to healthcare access rooted in geographic isolation have left tribal nations reeling under the weight of opioid addiction, which is killing Native people at unprecedented rates. Native Americans disproportionately struggle with the comorbidities of opioid abuse: the Indian Health Service reports that Indigenous peoples experience higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is predominant in opioid dependence.
Tribes are fighting back against rising opioid use with harm-reduction, an evidence-based approach that seeks to mitigate the negative impact of drug use through syringe exchange services, Narcan access, fentanyl testing strips and more.
That approach is well-suited for Native communities, according to Brown, who works as recovery coordinator for the Northern Inyo Hospital in the Eastern Sierra town of Bishop Calif.”
Breaking the Silence
Brown never intended to work in harm reduction.
When she returned home to the Bishop Paiute Reservation in 2018 after getting a master’s degree in addiction psychology from the University of North Dakota, she worked as the social services director for her Tribe.
After her best friend’s sister died of an overdose, she took it upon herself to start a conversation among her tribe about opioid use.
“All of a sudden, it was like someone shook me and said, ‘You know what to do,’” Brown said. “I wanted to break the silence and let people know that Narcan was available in our pharmacy.”
Two weeks after her friend’s sister died, Brown organized an event to address the Tribe’s opioid crisis. About 80 community members showed up.
“The opioid epidemic here wasn’t being talked about,” Brown said. “We had to ask, ‘What is being done about this?’ And take action, and then it just snowballed.”
Since then, Brown has led efforts to bring a harm-reduction approach to her community, launching a needle-exchange program called “Skoden” in 2019 and spreading the word about Narcan and distributing it in her community.
Since 2018, some 70 drug overdoses have been reversed with the Narcan made available by Brown’s efforts.
“I came home to do other things,” Brown said. “And I am so grateful I did come home.”
Evidence shows that harm-reduction is effective not only in reducing deaths and infectious diseases related to opioid use, but in stopping opioid use overall.
According to the CDC, people who use needle-exchange programs are five times more likely to enter drug-treatment programs and 3.5 times more likely to stop injecting drugs.
Laura Guzman is the Executive Director of the National Harm Reduction Coalition (NHRC), an organization founded in 1993 to advocate for those left vulnerable from drug use.
Guzman has been involved with the NHRC since 1995, working at the organization’s San Francisco branch, then as the NHRC director for California in 2020 before becoming executive director earlier this year. She saw firsthand the rapid spread of HIV through syringe-drug use during the AIDS epidemic and the skyrocketing mortality rates among opioid users as illicit fentanyl began flowing into the U.S. drug supply around 2014.
“We believe that acknowledging why people use drugs goes a long way in not only fully understanding the struggle for people, but also helping them to make the changes that they so choose to make at the time of pace that is possible for them,” Guzman said of the harm reduction approach.
She notes that the positive impact of harm reduction— which elevates the human dignity of drug users and meets them where they are—is amplified when integrated with cultural components, especially in Native communities.
“We need to allow for communities to take leadership in their healing experiences,” she said. “People have been colonized, erased from public health. Native-led health for natives feels comfortable and is important — it’s in contrast to the historical trauma of colonization.”
Indigenizing Harm Reduction
This month, the NHRC is launching a Native Harm Reduction Toolkit, created in collaboration with Brown. The toolkit — created through interviews with native healthcare leaders and tribal communities —serves as a guide to “Indigenize” harm reduction by infusing language, cultural values, and connection to community and self into services and treatment options.
“For me, this approach is really dismantling the Western approach of dealing with our own people,” Brown said. “We have a different way to engage with our people out here to show them love and to keep them safe. One of the biggest pieces for me is connecting them with culture so they’re not further isolated.”
As tribal nations deal with the drastic spike in opioid-related deaths in recent years, several have adopted harm-reduction strategies.
In 2022, the Blackfeet Nation of Montana declared a state of emergency after a rash of opioid deaths, creating a task force to drive efforts to distribute Narcan and host needle exchanges.
Earlier this year, Cherokee Nation announced the opening of a $3 million harm-reduction clinic in the Nation’s capitol of Tahlequah, Oklah.
This spring, Northern Wisconsin’s Bad River Band of Lake Superior Indians’ needle exchange program, Gwayakobimaadiziwin, partnered with online and mail-based harm reduction service NEXT Distro to be a Narcan distribution center for the state — where opioid overdose deaths increased by 900 percent in the past decade. Now, any Wisconsin resident can order through a website and receive free Narcan, clean syringes and fentanyl test strips in the mail.
The tribe launched Gwayakobimaadiziwin in 2015 and, in 2018, was awarded a two-year-policy grant through the AIDS United Access Fund to shore up efforts to treat opioid abuse in the community.
Bad River Economic Development Coordinator Philomena Kebec said the NEXT Distro partnership is in line with providing access to life-saving services while allowing drug users to keep their identities anonymous and stay out of the criminal justice system.
She notes historical discrimination in the healthcare system and the criminal justice system has exacerbated the impact of opioid abuse among Native Americans as people are driven to self-medicate to lessen the symptoms of trauma or avoid engaging with a system that wasn’t built for them.
“People struggle with mental health, with PTSD, and they are really unable to bridge the divide between themselves and the health care system that oftentimes just treats people like a widget,” Kebec said. “And we are significantly targeted by the criminal justice system. We really need to challenge the criminal justice model and look at other ways to think and feel about this issue… there is nuance involved.
“There are amazing people in my community who use drugs. We are not going to get beyond this until we start having more compassion and understanding why people are using drugs.”
‘Out here, discrimination kills’
Brown says that creating access to Narcan in Indian Country is crucial to giving Native communities a fighting chance — as is addressing the stigma that the life-saving drug may encourage opioid use.
“We need to saturate communities with Narcan,” Brown said. “You never know when you might be a first responder and save someone’s life. We really work on destigmatizing Narcan as ‘a drug for a drug.’”
At the time of this interview, Brown had recently returned from the National Indian Health Board Conference (NIHB) in Anchorage, Alaska, where she said she heard over and over again that tribal communities are burying their loved ones at such a relentless rate there is barely space for grief.
“People don’t have time to grieve anymore,” Brown said. “They are losing people so fast. We need to take action in our communities … Native Americans are discriminated against in so many ways, and out here, discrimination kills.”
Back on the Pala Band Reservation, Chairman Smith and tribal leaders are working to spread the word about the Narcan vending machine.
“We want to let everyone know that this is available — everyone, grandmas, grandpas, kids,” Smith said. “These drugs are killing people, and Narcan can save someone’s life.”
Cosmic Mysteries of the Physical Plane 