CTN-0033-Ot-5: The Choctaw Nation Methamphetamine Data Needs Project

Paul Spicer, PhD
Lead Investigator
American Indian and Alaska Native Programs
F800 Night Horse Campbell Native Health Building
Paul.Spicer@UCHSC.edu

This project focuses on inventorying available data sources on methamphetamine, determining gaps in this data, and developing new data collection strategies to address these gaps and support additional work to address methamphetamine and its consequences in the communities of the Choctaw Nation.

Primary Findings

(Findings for this study were combined with CTN-0035-Ot-1.) Findings indicate that urban clients were more likely to report employment problems, polysubstance use, and a history of abuse. Reservation-based clients reported having more severe medical problems and a greater prevalence of psychiatric problems. Clients who were regular opioid users were more likely to report having a chronic medical condition, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, polysubstance abuse, and IV drug use. Clients who reported a history of depression had twice as many lifetime hospitalizations and more than five times as many days with medical problems.

Results Article: Rieckmann TR, McCarty D, Kovas AE, et al. American Indians with Substance Use Disorders: Treatment Needs and Comorbid Conditions. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse 2012;38(5):498-504. [get article]

    Node Involvement

    Lead Node(s):

  • Western States Node

  • All Participating Nodes:

  • Western States Node