Marin Webster Denning recalled his introduction to drugs growing up on the Menominee Reservation when he was only 8.
He was at a party when someone snuck up on him and forced him to wear a mask filled with marijuana smoke until he passed out. When he came to, he remembers everyone in the room was laughing.
He remembers how his uncle died from the effects of alcohol addiction, without insurance and in severe agony, chained to a bed because he couldn’t afford medication to ease his suffering.
Decades later, the ongoing epidemic of drugs and suicide in Indian Country took the lives of three of his children, stripping their bright futures away.
“We’re in deep mourning every day, morning, noon and night,” said Denning, a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin.
He shared his story with dozens of others at a vigil this month in Milwaukee for those who have lost loved ones to drug overdoses.
At the event, held at the Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center, several others held framed photos and shared the stories of their loved ones lost to drugs.
After sharing their stories, the speakers were smudged with sage smoke to help cleanse them of any negative energy.
The attendees attached prayer ties to the skeleton of a teepee and those ties would later be burned with tobacco, with the smoke of the prayer making its journey to Creator.
“My son is represented up there,” Denning said of his prayer tie on the teepee without a cover, adding that the incomplete teepee represents how it feels when we lose someone.
His son, Sawyer, was a bright, young man who did well as a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Denning said Sawyer was a good student throughout high school and hadn’t been exposed to drugs. But, at college, someone gave him an anti-anxiety drug to help step up his studying. Sawyer would then drink alcohol to help himself level out, so he could sleep after long study sessions fueled by the drug. He started to crash and struggled with addiction.
Denning believed he had done what he could to raise Sawyer right and drug-free.
“Addiction and overdosing doesn’t discriminate by age, education, money or status in life,” he said. “That all doesn’t matter.”
Sawyer continued to struggle with addiction before taking his own life Sept. 4, 2019, at age 30.
His younger siblings, sister Isabel and brother Taylor, had already died by suicide in 2016, a little more than a month apart. Sawyer died of a drug overdose, which Denning believes was influenced by the deaths of his brother and sister.
“This is an all-of-us problem,” Denning said. “It’s a public health problem.”
His words brought tears to some of the eyes in attendance.
In a 2021 report, the National Library of Medicine found that there's a strong link between drug addiction and suicidal ideations, but concluded that more research is needed.
Native communities experience higher rates of suicide compared to all other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S., according to the National Indian Council on Aging.
For Native youth between ages 10 to 24, suicide is the second-leading cause of death, with rates 2½ times higher than the national average.
Dr. Lyle Ignace, CEO of the Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center, said the main culprit for the devastation of drug addiction in Indian Country today is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid.
He said just a small amount of fentanyl, no bigger than a grain of rice, is enough to kill a person.
Ignace said there was a spike of fentanyl use in 2013 when drug dealers started to mix it into all kinds of drugs, including marijuana and cocaine.
“That’s why recreational use of any drugs, right now, can be so deadly,” he said.
At a rate of 172 per 100,000 people, Ignace said Native Americans are dying of opioid overdoses in Wisconsin more than any other race or ethnic group.
“I don’t see it getting any better,” Ignace said. “It’s getting worse.”
Opioid deaths have been increasing statewide in Wisconsin the last 20 years, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. In 2000, there were 111 opioid deaths. Twenty years later, in 2020, there were 1,226.
Between 2014 and 2020, Wisconsin had 6,845 drug overdose deaths, with 5,338 coming from opioids and 3,101 coming from multiple drugs.
Denning said the rate of drug overdose deaths can at times outpace the rate of new births on some tribal reservations.
“Some people seeking their Heaven are actually in Hell,” he said.
More:His son died by suicide. He danced anyway. How generational trauma continues to haunt Native communities.
For Indigenous communities, advocates say many of the challenges that lead to suicide and addiction come from generational trauma.
From being forced onto reservations with little to no food, being forced to assimilate, and experiencing genocide and institutional racism, the result was Indigenous communities have experienced poorer health and poverty at much higher rates. That, in turn, leads to a decline in mental health and increase in suicide and substance abuse.
Thousands of Indigenous children from Wisconsin also attended boarding schools, some voluntarily and many involuntarily, starting in the late 19th century, stretching well into the 20th century.
The schools stripped Native American children of their language, culture and customs. Youth were discouraged or forbidden from speaking their Native languages and forced to speak English. Their long hair, an important part of their identity and culture, was cut short. Their traditional clothing was replaced with uniforms. Many youths reported physical and sexual abuse.
More:Wisconsin had at least 11 Native American boarding schools. Here's what to know about them.
Organizers said the vigil in Milwaukee was a step to try to reverse the disturbing trend by calling on attendees to tell everyone they can about the public health crisis.
“To remember them is to love them,” Denning said about those lost to drugs and suicide. “Many of you have thoughts like me of wanting to be with them. Fight that (expletive) every day. Do not let the destroyer take any more away from you.”
If you or someone you know is dealing with suicidal thoughts, call theNational Suicide Prevention Lifelineat 988 or text "Hopeline" to the National Crisis Text Line at 741-741.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, contact theSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration's National Helpline at1-800-662-HELP (4357)or TTY1-800-487-4889. The helpline is a confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year, information service, in English and Spanish, for individuals and family members facing mental and/or substance use disorders. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups and community-based organizations. Also, visit theonline treatment locator, or send your ZIP code via text message to435748(HELP4U) to find help near you.
Frank Vaisvilas is a former Report for America corps member who covers Native American issues in Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.Contact him atfvaisvilas@gannett.comor 815-260-2262.Follow himon Twitter at@vaisvilas_frank.
