Woman Aims To Reduce Area’s Substance Abuse Problems

Roosevelt County resident Tristan Miller admits that she has made more than her share of wrong choices in her life. She is now committing to a better focus and she hopes others on the Fort Peck Reservation listen to her pleas.

Miller explains that when a classmate and pow-wow friend died at the age of 30 in October of this year, she became determined to live a sober life. She notes that he was the fourth of her Poplar classmates that died from cirrhosis.

“Nothing made me any better than him. I’m the same age, have the same amount of children,” Miller said of why it was vital to turn her life around. “It really opened my eyes.”

She stressed the importance for Fort Peck’s leaders to make a priority of addressing alcoholism.

“I understand now there’s a focus on meth and fentanyl. Fentanyl is going to come in with an iron fist and take some of our lives away,” Miller said. “But alcohol is number one. I don’t want to bury any of my friends anymore. I don’t want to be there when their mothers cry. It’s devastating and heart-breaking. We need help.”

She says alcohol is the initial gateway to substance abuse. Then comes marijuana, followed by stronger substances.

“It’s so accessible here,” Miller said of alcohol and she mentioned sales to minors.

Miller knows the problems first-hand as she has lived through her own addictions and poor decisions. She was a runaway as a juvenile and spent a good amount of time in the juvenile detention center. She notes alcoholism runs in her family and that she started drinking when she was only 14 years old.

At the age of 16, she became pregnant and that put her life back on the right path.

“I promised myself I won’t be another statistic and I won’t be on welfare,” Miller said. “People talked down to me. My son saved me. That’s what turned me around.”

Despite being two years behind her high school classmates in studies at that point, she applied herself through the alternative learning center and graduated with Poplar’s class of 2009.

A few years later, she faced another crisis after she became part of the “corporate California workforce.” She became addicted to a prescription drug, She said she will never forget the look of her mother’s eyes when she returned to Poplar that Christmas weighing only 98 pounds.

“I really looked like a baby dinosaur,” Miller explained.

She credits the reservation’s cultural influence in helping her overcome the prescription drug addiction, but she soon found herself reaching for the bottle again.

“Alcohol is legal and more socially accepted,” Miller explained. “It’s something that you can do every day if you want to.”

Miller said the acceptance of alcohol has led to the death of her classmates along with many others on the reservation. She wants area leaders to address that crisis.

She credits the Spotted Bull Treatment Center for positive work, but the facility has limitations as far as space and resources.

Instead of spending million of dollars on the new wellness center being built in Poplar, Miller feels substance abuse treatment should have been a higher priority. “Imagine if we spent millions on a treatment center how much of an impact could happen,” Miller said.

She explained that it can be frustrating if people are put on a waiting list for treatment. She sees a lack of understanding and willingness to help as part of the problem.

“We need to challenge our higher ups, hold them accountable,” Miller said. “This is one of the older issues that we have. Your 30 year olds are dying, I can’t stress that enough.”

She’s glad that she was able to express her message to some level when she recently campaigned for a Tribal Executive Board position.

“My whole goal was to open people’s eyes to what was going on,” Miller said.

Feedback included hugs and positive comments regarding her passion of decreasing substance abuse.

“The support is overwhelming. I’m grateful, but it’s not about me. It’s about the issue,” Miller said.

Her plan includes spending time visiting individuals about the alcohol problem in the area. She wants to speak to everybody from street people to leaders who are functioning alcoholics.

“I need to start small,” she said. “Find out where the hurt starts so you can start to heal it.”

With her limited income, she is planning to donate one turkey dinner per Fort Peck community as a way to visit with some people in need. “That’s time to talk and time to listen,” she said.

When she makes her visits, the memories of her lost classmates will certainly be with her.

“There’s nothing that makes me different than those who passed away,” Miller said. “It’s all preventable and that’s what makes me so angry.”