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8 out of 10 aboriginal teenagers use marijuana on a regular basis.
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Questions and Answers
What is the issue at hand?
The issue at hand is that there are much higher rates of substance abuse in aboriginal communities compared to non aboriginal communities. In Aboriginal communities the rate of Inuit people living on the reserve who smoke daily is around 47% compared to non aboriginals with only 15% as of 2012. As of 2012 About 40% of aboriginals living on the reserve heavily drank between the ages of 12 and 24. Since 2012 these rates have been slowly rising, Therefore this is clearly an issue
Is there truly an injustice occurring here or is it just an issue?
This is truly an injustice because the Government has been under funding the aboriginal communities health care funds towards mental health and substance abuse programs compared to the rest of the Canadian population. In 2016 The Canadian Government estimated that they would spend $228 billion towards Canadian healthcare. As of 2015 the government has spent on average around $1.1 billion towards aboriginal health care which includes mental health and substance abuse programs. Even though there is a much less population in aboriginal communities compared to the rest of Canada, there is still a dramatic difference. In 2016 the Government promised $8.4 billion in funding to the first nation communities over the next five years. Healthcare was not even part of this funding. This is why this is an injustice.
Is substance abuse linked to diseases and other health issues?
Yes the use of drugs and alcohol is linked to other diseases and health care issues. The rate of HIV in aboriginal communities is slowly rising because in poorer areas where heroin and other cheap injection drugs are popular, needles are shared with each other. Therefore there is many instances where other individuals are infected with HIV and other transmitted diseases because of this. Other drugs like tobacco and crack cause lung diseases like lung cancer and dental decay.
Is substance abuse linked to other forms of abuse?
Yes, according to Sherry Saevil, the indigenous Education Advisor for the the HCDSB, explains that the use of drugs and alcohol have a direct connection to forms of physical, sexual, mental, and emotional abuse. In addition, these forms of abuse lead victims into substance abuse. Therefore there is a direct relation between the two.http://www.ahf.ca/downloads/addictive-behaviours.pdf
How does the substance abuse affect teenagers?
9 out of 10 teenagers smoke marijuana. Substance abuse has a huge negative effect on the teenage community. There have been many instances where a young male or female’s parents are alcoholics and have abused these teens because of it. A perfect example of this would be with the public speaker that came in, Doug Doolittle. He explained that his parents were both alcoholics and that it resulted in his mother in abusing him almost every single day. This resulted in Doug becoming an alcoholic himself. Therefore substance abuse has a huge impact on the teenage community. “My father was a chronic alcoholic. His parents had seven children and five died of alcoholism, including my father. My mom drank also and I started drinking at age eight. I was in and out of group homes and foster care and by the age of fifteen I was ordered to attend AA. I started on IV drugs at sixteen”
Why is there such a high rate of substance abuse in these communities?
There is many different reasons why substance abuse is very common in these aboriginal communities. Ahf.ca explains that one of the main reasons why aboriginal people turn to alcoholism and other forms of substance abuse is because of the intense trauma the adults have received from residential schools. It explains that the mistreatment and the abuse that the aboriginal people received caused them to turn to drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism. This resulted in a domino effect upon the community. The parents who had traumatic experiences from these schools started to abuse their children in the same ways they were abused and so forth. This resulted in the rate of substance abuse to grow. There are other reasons for high rates of substance abuse like the loss of land and and poverty but the most popular reason is because of the residential schools.
What is being done to help troubled teens with addictions? Is there even help being given?
First Nations communities with addiction challenges have access to two programs funded by the Government of Canada. These programs are the National Native Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program (NNADAP) and the National Youth Solvent Abuse Program (NYSAP) There is multiple treatment centres in various provinces that aboriginals have access to. EX- BC, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, and they even have some by the Atlantic
For example in Ontario there is a treatment centre known as Native Horizons Treatment centre that has programs that deal with trauma with residential schools, trauma, substance abuse, and family issues.
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The most prominent reason as to why there is such a high rate of substance abuse in these aboriginal communities is because of the trauma that most of these people experienced during the early stages of their lives. Residential schools had catastrophic effects on the mental and physical state of the aboriginal children. These schools basically tortured the students into assimilation. There were many cases where children were sexually abused by multiple different adult figures. There have even been instances where female students were forced to have abortions if they became pregnant. It even went as far as sticking needles into students tongues who are caught speaking their native language. All of these forms of abuse resulted in these students developing PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Once out of the residential schools, the survivors living PTSD developed many cases of rage and depression. Their only way of coping with this was through drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately these coping mechanisms were only a temporary fix, causing them to become increasingly more dependent on substances. As these victims grew older they transferred this trauma towards their children. There is research shown that individuals who do not have a proper upbringing with proper growth and development will have extreme difficulty with parenting (ahf.com). This has a domino effect upon the community because the children who suffer from abuse from their parents turn to drugs and alcohol as their only source to cope. The cycle continues and these children will transfer this trauma to their children and so forth. Another major cause for the growing rate of substance abuse is the drug trafficking and bootlegging that occurs in these reserves. According to the National Post, Attawapiskat has one of the biggest problems with drug trafficking. During winter time, an ice road is formed between Attawapiskat and the rest of Canada. This allows for easy access in out of the reserve. Many drugs like crack, marijuana, codeine, meth, oxycodone, and fentanyl are easily smuggling into the reserve. Since they have such easy access to these drugs they are more persuaded to try them, resulting in addictions. Another reason why substance abuse is such a problem in these aboriginal communities is from the lack of activities within these communities. These reserves have very minimal sources of entertainment for the community because of how how poor the area is. The government is known for under funding the these communities with recreational activities compared to other non aboriginal communities. For example The government has just recently promised 1 million dollars to communities like Slave Lake, Fort Vermilion and Barrhead for recreational activities. But puts millions and millions of dollars are put into Oakville alone. Thus, many individuals living on these reserves turn to drugs and alcohol because there is simply nothing else to do. Lastly another major reason for the rise of substance abuse in these aboriginal reserves is the shutting down of the treatment centres. Canada does offer a wide rage of treatment centres for aboriginal individuals who have addictions but they do not last very long. In many cases the rehab centre runs out of funding and starts to stumble into debt. The government then intervenes and shuts the centre down. For example in December of 2015, a rehab centre known as The Three Voices of Healing was forced to shut down because of the unpaid expenses and the crippling debt they were in. As much as the First Nations Health Authority tried, they were unsuccessful in keeping the centre running. This was due to the under funding and assistance from the government, and the underwhelming support from outside communities. The closing of these rehab centres result in individuals being sent away while mid treatment. This results in them falling back into substance abuse. These are the main reasons that contribute to the growth of substance abuse in aboriginal communities.
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