TULALIP – The Tulalip Indian Reservation has a new Narcotics Anonymous program called the Red Road to Recovery.
Its first meeting last week drew only three people, but Rita Matta hopes it will grow and become a resource for others like herself who are recovering from drug addiction.
“We’re at ground zero,” Matta said. “We’re at the beginning of giving back. This is part of our program.”
Matta helped organize the program after pleading guilty in January to drug charges. She faces sentencing in August, and likely will go to federal prison. But she has undergone drug treatment and is trying to help others who have struggled with the same problem, she said.
Earlier this month, police and federal agents arrested two men and disrupted what they described as a drug ring that had operated on the reservation for 15 years. Other arrests are likely, authorities said.
Matta, 53, said those arrests will have a ripple effect on families with drug users.
“We want people that are going to be in this ripple effect to know that there’s help out there,” she said.
Tulalip Tribes Chairman Stan Jones Sr. said Matta is “doing a real good job of trying to reach the other people that either are still on prescription drugs or whatever they were on.”
The tribe’s board of directors encourages tribal members to participate in programs such as Matta’s, Jones said.
“We have recovery programs. But when tribal members start one, like Rita, more people will go to them. It’s something that we really need. If they just touch a few, that would be worth it,” Jones said.
Matta said she used cocaine for 14 years and has been through treatment before.
“I have diseases that have been inherited,” Matta said, adding that she’s a third-generation alcoholic. “I walk through my mother’s and my grandmother’s moccasins.
“The addiction – the disease – is very powerful. I wanted to stay clean, but I couldn’t. We all have our bottoms. Waking up in (jail) was my bottom. Seeing my mother and my grandchildren cry is a bottom.”
The new group meets at 7 p.m. Saturdays at the Tulalip Family and Youth Services office, 2821 Mission Hill Road. Fliers will be posted near the tribal center to direct people to the meeting, Matta said. It is open to everyone.
Reporter Cathy Logg: 425-339-3437 or logg@heraldnet.com.
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