Eastern Band
of Cherokee Indians
Jurisdiction: The boundaries of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians jurisdiction include more than 56,000 acres of land within Cherokee, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, and Swain Counties in North Carolina.
Drug misuse within the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) jurisdiction has increased over the years, as identified through a rise in overall drug offenses. Since 2015, law enforcement agencies have witnessed an alarming increase in the number of offenders arrested for the illegal use and possession of opium, heroin, and other opiates. In 2019, the Tribal Council authorized a Tribal Coordinating Committee to develop and implement a Tribal Action Plan (TAP) to address the community goal of reducing the rate of death resulting from substance use disorders. The EBCI Office of Governmental Affairs led the project in line with the TAP and focused on improving coordination with the community and key stakeholders—including public health, education, justice and law enforcement, housing, primary health, and mental health—to develop better solutions to reduce the morbidity and mortality of substance use disorder. One major component of the project was increasing the number of programs that contribute data to the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP) to track the locations of suspected fatal and nonfatal overdoses and the administration of naloxone.