Red Lake Nation Confronts Drug Crisis with New Banishment Protocol

The Red Lake Tribal Council is taking measures to address a growing drug epidemic on the Red Lake reservation. Tribal officials say that heroin and opioid addictions have brought about a wave of overdoses, deaths, child neglect and abandonment, and criminal incarcerations in the Red Lake Nation community.

In response to the drug crisis, the Red Lake Nation council declared a public health emergency on July 11. Immediately following the declaration, the council began ramping up efforts to address the growing crisis, including amending a banishment ordinance from 2003. While banishment has been a possibility since 2003, an official protocol for banishment was lacking in the earlier ordinance.

https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/culture/health-wellness/red-lake-nation-confronts-drug-crisis-new-banishment-protocol/