Drug Use a Huge Problem with Native American Tribes

Friday, February 24th, 2023 -- 12:00 PM

(By Evan Casey, Wisconsin Public Radio) On the day her first son was born, Lydi Dodge's father died of a drug overdose. 

According to Evan Casey with Wisconsin Public Radio, two years later, her mother died from liver failure stemming from a battle with alcoholism. By the time she was just 21, both of her parents were dead.

She started taking pain pills to help deal with the grief. "He's (Dad) the one who raised me, so that was a lot to take in," Dodge said. "And that's how I got started on the pills, because they were so available from the doctor at the time.

Dodge started small, with prescription pills. But it didn't take long for her drug use to take a sharp turn. She quickly got hooked on meth, and then heroin. About five years ago, she began using fentanyl, an extremely powerful, and deadly, synthetic opioid.

"It just got really, really bad," Dodge said. "There was no coming back." Dodge, now 29-years-old, is a direct descendant of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. She lived in the village of Keshena in the heart of the Menominee Indian Reservation for several years while she battled substance abuse.

It was a place she'd use and often sell drugs. She was not the only one. Menominee County has the highest overdose death rate in all of Wisconsin, according to statewide overdose death data. In 2022, the tribe saw 16 overdose deaths, its highest number on record. 

The Menominee Indian Tribe is not the only tribe dealing with this issue. Wisconsin Department of Health Services Director of Opioid Initiatives Paul Krupski said the 12 tribal nations across the state have the highest overdose rate of any population.

"When we look at data, our tribal nations are disproportionately impacted by the opioid crisis in our state," Krupski said during a February press conference. A 2022 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also found national overdose death rates increased 39 percent for American Indians from 2019 to 2020.

That trend isn't slowing down, according to the CDC. But with a renewed focus on the issue, Menominee tribal leaders are hoping to put an end to the deaths. Today, Dodge, now nearly 20 months sober, is back on the reservation to provide input and feedback for the tribe's recent efforts to reverse the trend.

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