In April, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs adopted an innovative policy to battle drug and alcohol abuse on the reservation, said Caroline Cruz, an alcohol and drug prevention specialist with the Oregon Department of Human Services.

The decision earned the tribes national recognition through the Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center, which was established by the U.S. Department of Justice to support enforcement of underage drinking laws. Along with 16 other groups from throughout the country, the tribes will be honored at a ceremony in Baltimore today.

”I’m hoping through the exposure, we’ll get more people, programs and services involved,” said Jeff Sanders, executive director of the Warm Springs Housing Authority. Sanders flew to Baltimore to accept the honor for the policy that was, in part, his idea.

Under the new policy, tribal members abusing alcohol or engaging in illegal drug activity who live in Warm Springs Housing Authority units have a choice of going to treatment or being evicted, Cruz explained.

Sanders said the housing authority has 390 units and that housing on the reservation is in high demand. The waiting list for the units stretches three years, he said. Because of the housing need, the threat of eviction is a powerful incentive, he said.

”I didn’t want to use it as a punitive way to deal with it. I wanted to give people alternatives,” Sanders said. ”If you do this, there has got to be a consequence and the consequence is eviction.”

Through reports from drug and alcohol counselors and the tribal police, Sanders said he is able to make contact with his tenants who abuse substances and make them the offer of treatment. Since the program began, no one has been evicted but several families are seeking drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

”The fact that Warm Springs even attempted to do something this drastic, I thought they deserved to be nominated,” said Cruz, who nominated the tribes for the award. ”The interesting thing will be a year from now to see how well that is being monitored and implemented and what the community members think.”

In the seven years the Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center has been giving out honors for drug and alcohol programs, Oregon has been in the spotlight four times, said Jim Sellers a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Human Services.