The Cherokee Nation is proposing a $10 million addiction treatment center in Stilwell, Oklahoma, that would use opioid settlement money to bring outpatient substance use care under the direct management of the tribe’s health system.
A $10 Million Investment in Stilwell, Oklahoma
Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner announced the proposal on Friday. The plan calls for a 10,000-square-foot outpatient facility at 82102 Highway 59 in Stilwell, Oklahoma, paid for through the tribe’s Behavioral Health Capital Fund.
The Cherokee Nation created that fund in 2022 to channel opioid settlement proceeds into behavioral health and addiction treatment construction projects.
The proposal now sits with the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council. Committees were scheduled to take up the resolution on Nov. 9, with the full Council considering it the same evening.
If approved, the tribe’s construction and procurement teams will begin the contract-awarding process. A bid solicitation for the project is posted on the tribe’s CherokeeBids.org website.
Opioid Settlement Money Working for Recovery
The Cherokee Nation was the first tribal nation in history to pursue litigation against the opioid industry, filing its case in 2017 through the tribe’s Office of the Attorney General. That legal campaign produced the settlement agreements now funding the construction push.
“In 2022 we locked down nearly $100 million in opioid settlement funds to make that industry pay for every single penny of a plan to bring addiction treatment and healing to the Cherokee people,” Hoskin said. “Today, we are proposing another great project under that plan.”
The administration has already started construction on an inpatient addiction treatment center in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, along with outpatient recovery centers in Tahlequah and Vinita, Oklahoma. Those projects are scheduled for completion in 2027.
Amendments to the fund in 2023 and 2026 steered still more settlement money into construction, and the legislation also sends millions of dollars each year to health and career services programs designed to help people overcome addiction and rebuild their lives.
“People struggling with substance use disorder deserve compassionate and comprehensive care,” Warner said. He added that while external partners already deliver some services, tribally managed facilities put patients at the center of care within the Cherokee Nation health system.
Understanding Opioid Addiction
Opioids are a class of drugs that includes prescription pain relievers, heroin, and fentanyl, a synthetic opioid many times stronger than heroin.
Signs of opioid addiction include intense cravings, needing more of the drug to feel the same effect, withdrawal sickness when use stops, and continued use even when it damages health, work, or relationships.
Because illicit fentanyl is frequently mixed into other street drugs, many people develop dependence without realizing what they were taking. Treatment works, and medications combined with counseling give people the strongest chance at recovery.
Finding Addiction Treatment Centers in Oklahoma
For Oklahoma residents, the Stilwell proposal signals that more addiction treatment options could be coming to the Cherokee Nation reservation.
Outpatient care allows people to receive counseling and medication while living at home, which can make treatment easier to start and to sustain. If you or someone you love shows signs of opioid addiction, do not wait for a new facility to open.
Addictions.com lists verified addiction treatment centers in Oklahoma, and the directory makes it simple to compare drug rehabs in Oklahoma by location and services.