Chief Hoskin, Deputy Chief Warner to sign $23M legislation for new treatment facilities

WHAT:
Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner will sign into law new legislation investing $23 million for additional substance use disorder treatment and recovery centers.

WHEN:
Wednesday, January 14 at 11 a.m.

WHERE:
269 South Seventh St.
Vinita, Okla.

WHO:
Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.
Deputy Chief Bryan Warner
Council of the Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation Cabinet
Cherokee Nation Health Services leadership

VINITA, Okla. - Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Deputy Chief Bryan Warner will sign into law new legislation on Wednesday, Jan. 14, investing $23 million for additional substance use disorder treatment and recovery centers within the Cherokee Nation Reservation.

The Council of the Cherokee Nation officially approved the legislation on Monday. The new law will add a new outpatient recovery center in Tahlequah and build an additional outpatient recovery center in Vinita, utilizing opioid settlement funds.

The legislation designates the Tahlequah site as a campus with an $18 million outpatient facility to sit alongside the $41 million in-patient facility currently under construction southwest of Tahlequah. The tribe expects to complete both projects by 2027.

The legislation also supports a new $5 million facility in Vinita. Chief Hoskin and Deputy Chief Warner plan to remodel the site of a former Veterans Administration health clinic into an outpatient center for those in recovery.

In 2022, Chief Hoskin, Deputy Chief Warner and the Council of the Cherokee Nation enacted historic legislation to lock down $100 million in opioid settlement funds to build treatment and recovery facilities.