GLENPOOL, Okla. — The Muscogee Nation hosted its inaugural Intertribal Opioid Crisis Summit on Monday to educate as many Oklahomans as possible about the dangers of opioids.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Oklahoma is in the top 20% for drug overdose deaths.
The summit’s attendees included tribal members and federal and state representatives at the Community Conference Center in Glenpool. The purpose was for education and training so attendees can bring back information to their communities.
Muscogee Nation Surgeon General Lance Frye says more people need to recognize and understand addiction and overdose to make a difference.
"It is a crisis. It’s an epidemic that’s going on in our country right now and we need to get together and work together on it because it’s going to take all of us," Frye told 2 News Oklahoma.
But if there’s one demographic that’s getting hit harder and faster than most in Oklahoma — it’s the youth.
According to the Oklahoma State Department of Health, fentanyl was involved in nearly half of opioid-related deaths, compared to 10-20% prior to 2020.
“These young people are so easily impressed and misled,” said Ella Colman, an attendee affiliated with the Seminole Nation at Monday's summit.
She feels its incumbent upon adults to be educated about the dangers of opioids and how to prevent overdoses.
“It’s up to us to say, listen, you don’t know what you’re doing here," Colman said.
Just last week,two Webbers Falls students were hospitalized after an apparent drug overdose.
Although adults and children are at risk, Lt. Commander Sam Hubler with the U.S. Public Health Service says the epidemic can be attributed to prescription or counterfeit drugs.
“We see it younger and younger because access is bigger," Hubler said.
Plus it’s easy to get.
Officials say they plan to host more Intertribal Opioid Crisis Summits in the future.
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