"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - Methamphetamine Advisory Councils Named

"Wilma Pinnock, Public Health Advisor for the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, SAMHSA, presents the certificate of appointment to the advisory board of '*Not In Our Nation*' to Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith. Looking on in the background;
Left to Right, are NION advisory board members and Cherokee Nation Behavioral Health staff Daley Tearl, B.J. Boyd, J.R. Claphan, Bertha Alsenay, Myron Bolin, Janet Petty and
Deserea Morton."

TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA – The Cherokee Nation recently named advisory councils to assist in drug prevention efforts throughout the tribe’s jurisdictional boundaries.

“This program is a community-based effort to help people reclaim their lives and to educate others to not make those poor decisions from the beginning,” said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. “With this program, our communities will become healthier and the citizens and residents will reach a higher quality of life.”

This new program is being funded through two grants, totaling $12 million over the course of five years, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services.

“The first grant was for approximately $10.5 million to be awarded over the next five years,” said B.J. Boyd, deputy director of Cherokee Nation Behavioral Health. “We will use this money to establish community anti-drug coalitions across the 14 counties of the Cherokee Nation.”

An advisory council was appointed and members include Jon Dunbar-Cooper, Oklahoma Representative Mike Brown, Oklahoma Senator Jim Wilson, Andrea Lafazia, Billie Jordan, Melanie Knight, Tribal Council Speaker Meredith Frailey, Dr. Gloria Grim, Melissa Gower, Lisa Pivec, Norma Merriman, Dr. B.J. Boyd, Dr. Bret Thomas, Bart Fite, Rick Gassaway, Sammye Rusco and Sharon Wright.

The second project specifically focuses on methamphetamine prevention, with portions of the money to be used to hire two prevention specialists to assist in educating the public on methamphetamine awareness.

An advisory council was also appointed for the prevention project, being called “Not In Our Nation.” Members include Wilma Pinnock, Daley Tearl, Janet Petty, Valerie Dobbins, Dr. John Gastorf, Melissa Gower, Norma Merriman, Sharon Wright, J.R. Claphan, Bertha Alsenay, Ginger Brown, and Tribal Council member Joe Crittenden. “Over the next five years we will be working with 54 communities to better educate the public about the dangers and addictions of drugs and alcohol,” Boyd said. “We hope to help them develop local prevention initiatives to reduce drug abuse in their own communities.”

The Cherokee Nation offers prevention services to Cherokee citizens and other residents living in the jurisdictional boundaries of the Cherokee Nation. For more information on the tribe’s behavioral health services, call 918-458-6285.