Tribal Sovereignty

Alcohol and substance abuse runs rampant on American Indian Tribal Reservations. What 's still unclear is how much the Tribal and Federal Governments are doing to resolve or prevent this issue from occurring.“Tribal sovereignty refers to tribes ' right to govern themselves, define their own membership, manage tribal property, and regulate tribal business” (Google search) Healthy habits are important for living a long and prosperous life, every person should be in good hands when it comes to matters of health. The Federal Government should be taking more responsibility for the welfare of their citizens and providing adequate education and clinics concerning substance and alcohol abuse to tribal members, beyond what is already being provided

(Hendrix) This quote shows that only 47% of natives live under jurisdiction of the Government associated with their tribe. This illustrates the fact that Natives living outside of the reservation designated to their tribe are receiving different health care, than their counterparts on the reservations. Tribal sovereignty plays a major part in this controversy. Maintaining tribal sovereignty is very important to the Tribal Nations as it is there way of expressing freedom from the Federal Government. Tribal Sovereignty means “States have no legal jurisdiction in Indian country, and therefore tribal and federal law govern in both criminal and civil cases.” (Stanford) This quote shows that the Federal Government is stepping back and letting Tribal Governments handle their own issues by themselves. The Federal government respects the Tribe 's land as independent nations, and therefore will argue that the Tribal nations are not directly associated with the Federal Government. The tribal nations will not be provided any help from the Federal Government themselves. In an ideal situation, these tribes live in America, and should be provided with the same care and health options as the rest of the

“American Indian elders have higher death rates for all other causes of death. These causes of death have implications for the health care providers and educators, as most are preventable to some degree and could be addressed by culturally congruent intervention programs.” (stanford) “Gloria Griffin, a tribal member who lost a child to drug abuse, echoed those sentiments in her comments to Tribal Council. Kicking someone off of tribal land for good is essentially a death sentence, she said — instead, tribal government should increase resources for rehabilitation” (smoky mountain news). This is a Tribal Member, a Native American asking for more help concerning drug abuse. If her tribal government isn 't willing to provide adequate help to members, another option would be to implement a Federally funded drug and alcohol abuse prevention