The cash will likely be dedicated towards drug addiction treatment services, applications, and scholarships.
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner have proposed new laws that may commit over $100 million for addiction treatment services, treatment applications, a scholarship endowment, and different initiatives utilizing settlement funds from the tribe’s opioid and e-cigarette settlements.
Chief Hoskin and Deputy Chief Warner’s proposal amends the historic Public Health and Wellness Act. The 2021 regulation, first amended in 2022, already dedicated 7% of third-party medical insurance collections to bodily and psychological wellness applications and locked down $15 million in opioid settlement funds for addiction treatment facility development.
The laws would dedicate an extra $83 million in opioid settlement funds and almost $2 million in settlement funds from e-cigarette maker Juul.
“In my 2022 State of the Nation Address, I pledged to build a drug treatment facility for the Cherokee people, by the Cherokee people, and make the opioid industry pay for every penny of it,” Chief Hoskin mentioned. “Deputy Chief Warner, the Council and I are serious about getting justice… These dollars and the work of our talented team in the Cherokee Nation Attorney General’s office, enable us to keep that commitment.”
Chief Hoskin and Deputy Chief Warner additionally introduced that the preliminary capital challenge below the laws will embody an $18 million addiction treatment facility southwest of Tahlequah. The tribe beforehand helped residents by contracting with exterior treatment facilities and can now give you the option to serve residents in-house on the reservation.
The laws allocates over $100 million in “public health settlement” funds as follows:
- $73 million for a “Behavioral Health Capital Fund.” The fund could be used to assemble services throughout the reservation over the subsequent 5 years to meet behavioral well being service wants, together with drug treatment and prevention.
- $5 million for a “Behavioral Health Scholarship” endowment to encourage extra Cherokee residents to enter behavioral well being fields and work within the tribe’s well being system. The scholarships would come with enhanced grants for college kids who go on to work for Cherokee Nation Health Services as a part of a “pay back” program. Scholarships could be out there to Cherokee residents residing inside the reservation and out of doors the reservation.
- $10 million over ten years for “Career Services Recovery Employment Programs.” The applications would deal with employment and different financial boundaries confronted by Cherokee Nation residents in addiction restoration.
- $10 million over ten years for “Behavioral Health Innovative Addiction Recovery Programs.” The funding will allow Cherokee Nation’s Behavioral Health to develop new addiction restoration applications utilizing the newest and most promising improvements and methods within the subject.
- $2.8 million “Smoking Cessation Fund,” boosting public well being smoking cessation applications by $350,000 per yr for the subsequent eight years, doubling the funding of these applications.
Deputy Chief Warner praised the laws as setting the usual throughout Indian Country.
“The Public Health and Wellness Fund Act is already the gold standard across Indian Country for prioritizing public health as well as physical and mental wellness programs and services,” mentioned Deputy Chief Warner. “Our new legislative proposal improves upon the law by making the largest investment in addiction treatment in Cherokee history.”
Councilor Dora Patzkowski, the laws’s lead sponsor, mentioned the proposal has the potential of creating a long-term affect on the Cherokee Nation.
“I’m proud to be a sponsor of the Public Health and Wellness Fund Act. The Cherokee people want programs and services that bring healing and they want Cherokees to provide that healing,” mentioned Patzkowski. “This law will mean that we can build addiction treatment facilities and create a scholarship endowment to ensure that we have a pipeline of Cherokees to fill the therapist, doctor and nurse positions.”
The proposal additionally contains reform of the present regulation to maximize the annual income out there for bodily and psychological wellness applications.
“The Public Health and Wellness Fund Act has been responsible for dedicating over $18 million per year for programs that are critical to good health,” mentioned Councilor Mike Dobbins. “Every dollar we spend on mental health and physical wellness improves the quality of life for all of us and provides an immeasurable return on investment.”
The opioid settlement was the results of historic litigation by the Cherokee Nation Attorney General’s Office in opposition to producers, retailers, and distributors within the trade. The Cherokee Nation, which was the primary tribe to provoke such litigation, has different circumstances pending.
Cherokee Nation additionally settled with e-cigarette maker Juul final yr over the corporate’s function in youth vaping.
“The Cherokee Nation took on some of the largest corporations in the United States to protect the Cherokee people from an epidemic that has taken too many lives and dealt Cherokee families so much harm. These investments by Chief Hoskin, Deputy Chief Warner and the Council of the Cherokee Nation will help Cherokees break the chains of addiction and put many of our people on the path to recovery,” Cherokee Nation Attorney General Sara Hill mentioned. “This was the goal of the litigation from the very beginning.”
Cherokee Nation Health Services is the most important tribally-operated well being system in Indian Country, with greater than 2 million affected person visits per yr. Its behavioral well being system had over 44,580 affected person visits up to now yr, the most important variety of sufferers for behavioral well being providers in Cherokee historical past.
Chief Hoskin and Deputy Chief Warner’s proposal goes earlier than the Council of the Cherokee Nation’s Rules Committee on January 26 and if accepted will go on to a particular Council assembly later that day.
The laws has broad help on the Council of the Cherokee Nation with 16 co-sponsors.
The proposal stands as the most important greenback funding for psychological well being treatment and applications within the tribe’s historical past.
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