OREGON – Oregon’s Indigenous tribes are being compensated as part of a multi-million-dollar opioid settlement.
Oregon’s nine Native American tribes are getting large chunks of money from the state. The money’s coming to them as a result of the opioid crisis according to the Oregonian.
The paper says the state has decided to allocate 30% of the state’s $325 million opioid settlement specifically to the tribes.
According to the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, the opioid epidemic has hit Oregon native tribes far harder than the rest of the state. Oregon Native Americans die of overdoses two and a half times the rate of Oregon as a whole. It also says since 2020 overdose deaths have more than doubled in Oregon.
The tribes will now get $44 million collectively from the state according to the paper.
Coquille Tribal Chair Brenda Meade said in a statement, “These funds help, but we know this tragedy is ongoing and we are looking to do what we can to make the most of this settlement. The tribe is using their share of the funds to support opioid treatment programs throughout their ancestral homelands in southwest Oregon.”
These funds will be distributed over the next 18 years to the tribes.
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