Monday, October 13, 2025

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Photo: Mike Duncan, founder and CEO of the Native Dads Network, is one of the featured speakers at November’s opioid summit in New Mexico. (Courtesy Mike Duncan)

Indigenous health workers are stepping up their battle against opioid addictions.

As the Mountain West News Bureau’s Jenny Kinsey reports, tribal communities are looking for solutions to the ongoing crisis.

Indigenous people have been especially hard-hit by the national opioid epidemic. Their use is highest among all U.S. populations. And use has been increasing dramatically in recent years.

Chris Lovato is a Community Health Representative on the Santa Domingo Pueblo in New Mexico.

Lovato says the problem is widespread – and has even tracked opioid addictions in children as young as nine and 13.

“We did experience the 13 year old hallucinating, just kind of not coherent. And, of course, nine, one was called, and, getting him to the emergency room after, you know, a couple of days, we got the information that he was high on that and a couple of other drugs.”

Funds to fight the crisis come from the federal government’s Tribal Opioid Response Program and settlements from lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors.

Five tribal nations in New Mexico and more from out-of-state are expected to attend a summit on the Santa Ana Pueblo to look for solutions in November.

From language and culture to tribal courts and health, the applications are seemingly endless.

Jenner & Block special counsel Krystalyn Kinsel, left; Cora Tso, senior research fellow at ASU’s Kyl Center for Water Policy; and Chris Deschene, executive director of National Inter-Tribal Energy Council, discuss AI’s impacts on natural resources during “Wiring the Rez.” (Photo: Gabriel Pietrorazio / KJZZ)

The Phoenix, Ariz. area is increasingly becoming a hub for data centers powering artificial intelligence.

And as KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, even tribes are beginning to tackle the tradeoffs.

“There’s not been a conference on AI and Indian Country at all, to my knowledge, and so this is really the first time bringing people together.”

Traci Morris (Chickasaw), executive director of Arizona State University’s American Indian Policy Institute, says she and her team will draft a whitepaper on takeaways from the daylong “Wiring the Rez” gathering in downtown Phoenix.

Among them was critical dialogue about natural resources, a topic initially missing from the agenda but later added.

“After we saw stuff on our social media saying, ‘Well, what about what it’s doing to the environment?’ Okay, let’s add a panel. We got space.”

Chris Deschene (Navajo), executive director of the National Inter-Tribal Energy Council, says few tribes are in the position to consider building data centers on their lands.

“Most of Indian Country is not impacted by this, but it does impact, for example, if you have utility rates.”

Arizona utilities APS and Tucson Electric Power are now proposing a 14% hike for ratepayers, largely driven by rising energy demands from data centers.

Events to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day were held over the weekend and continue through Monday across the country.

In Berkeley, Calif. Saturday, the annual Indigenous Peoples Day Powwow and Indian Market was held.

It included intertribal dancing, contest dancing, Native foods, arts, and crafts.

Organizers say this year’s powwow marks 33 years of the holiday honoring ancestors, people of today, and future generations.

In Nevada earlier this year, state lawmakers passed a bill to officially recognize Indigenous Peoples Day on the second Monday in October, but the governor vetoed the measure (pdf).

According to Native Voters Alliance Nevada, the Native community is still celebrating, and invited elected officials, allies, and the greater Las Vegas community to kick off Indigenous Peoples Day at the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign to honor the holiday.