What they uncovered was a large-scale methamphetamine ring that had found a home in a state long known for its small-town solitude, its slow pace and peaceful pastures.
The members of this violent gang were all relative newcomers to Williston. They called themselves "The Family," the feds say, and were holed up in a few campers tucked behind an innocent-looking, white-frame house.
They had plenty of firepower, too: One of the men had an arsenal of 22 weapons.
Authorities say several "Family" members had abducted and planned to kill one of their own, seeking to enforce their code of silence out of fear he'd spill the group's secrets.
They assaulted him in a camper in Williston, stuffed him into a plastic-lined car trunk, then beat him again after he escaped. He was left for dead in a Montana field. He wound up, instead, in a North Dakota hospital, telling the FBI his story.
The result: Seven guilty pleas. Prison sentences of up to 20 years. And the dismantling of a drug trafficking ring that sold meth for more than a year in one of the fastest-growing corners of America.I did not read the article, except for what I posted above. I was well aware of the story. It's been reported in various formats for the past year or so.
My wife read the entire story. I asked her if the story mentioned who the users were. She said the article does not say who the uses are. I understand who might be bringing the illegal drugs into North Dakota, but I doubted this article would say who the users were.
Oil workers, truckers, my hunch is anyone working for well-established oil companies in the Bakken are being tested. I'm not worried about the roughnecks or the truckers.
North Dakota had a "meth" problem long before the Bakken. That was true throughout the midwest.
I'm glad to see the story get published, though. It will help the western counties get the law enforcement they need, and it might send a message to local judges to act quickly and decisively if they want this problem to be contained.
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From The Bismarck Tribune
May 25, 2002
Is methamphetamine really that big of a problem in NorthDakota?
"This is the scariest drug I've seen in my 16 years at BCI," said Jerry Kemmet, director of the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation. "The way it's taken a hold of the population. It's hard to treat and so addictive."
State statistics have shown a steady increase in meth labs since the drug began gaining popularity in 1998. The 17 labs seized in 1998 were more than in the previous four years combined. That number nearly tripled in 2000 when 46 labs were seized. The trend has continued to escalate with 89 labs found in 2001 and 101 labs already discovered so far this year. At that rate, more than 260 could be found by the end of the year.
"The number of labs has doubled every year now and looks like it will double or triple next year," North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said. "There's no getting around the conclusion that it's a tremendous problem in North Dakota."
The rising number of meth labs has law enforcement worried. Due to the hazardous and flammable chemicals used in the process of making meth, there's risk of explosions and health problems for people who come into contact with the lab byproducts.
Even though the number of meth labs is on pace to nearly triple the number found last year, it's estimated that only 10 percent of the methampetamine used in North Dakota is made locally. Most is imported from Mexico and California, Kemmet said.
BCI Chief Agent Jeff White said the exact number of meth-related arrests in North Dakota is unknown because the state does not require reporting agencies to separate meth out from other drug-related arrests. But an increasing number of prison inmates say meth is their drug of choice.
State Corrections Director Elaine Little said based on admission interviews, 92 of the 201 inmates sent to the prison last quarter - January, February and March - were meth users. The previous quarter - October, November and December of 2001 - 94 of the 218 new inmates were meth users.
Those numbers indicate that about 45 percent of inmates entering the prison system are meth users. Those inmates aren't necessarily being sent to prison on meth-related charges, but they're admitting they're meth users.
"Meth is more addictive, toxic and obtainable," Stenehjem said. "It's far worse than anything we've seen before."
The main reason meth has quickly overtaken other drugs is its addictiveness and cheap price. Kemmet said users claim they get a cheaper, longer, more intense high with meth than any other drug. Also, the drug has a higher addiction rate, sometimes hooking recreational users the first time they use it, according to Sue Mock, a licensed addiction counselor at West Central Human Services in Bismarck.The question is this: is there less meth used per capita now with the Bakken boom or less.
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I was going to add that the fact the meth problem began in North Dakota at the height of the Clinton administration is as relevant as the Bakken being related to the meth problem, but I do recall that "I did not inhale" was the mantra back in the '90's. So maybe the Clinton tie is relevant.
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The state has seen a tenfold increase in oil production in the past decade, bringing its daily yield to 1 million barrels. And with production up, joblessness has plunged: At less than 3 percent, unemployment is lower in North Dakota than anywhere else in the nation.
But the state has been on a miniature version of this ride before, and its officials know that the boom-and-bust nature of energy development makes it a fickle economic mainstay. Indeed, North Dakota's economy was hurt in the mid-1980s after oil production dipped. The state is currently producing far more oil than it was 30 years ago, and that growth would make a similar plunge all the more painful.
This time, however, officials think they've found a way to make their oil wealth outlast their oil boom: The Legislature and voters in 2010 amended the state constitution to create the North Dakota Legacy Fund.Since July 2011, 30 percent of state taxes on oil-and natural gas production and extraction have been siphoned into a low-risk investment fund. Not a dime of that can be spent until mid-2017 at the earliest. Even then, spending anything but the interest will require a two-thirds vote of each branch of the Legislature. And even if legislators authorize tapping into the fund, not more than 15 percent of the principal can be spent during any two-year period.
The fast-growing fund had almost $1.8 billion as of late January, and that's forecast to grow to roughly $3 billion by mid-June of 2015 and to keep climbing, according to the Office of the State Tax Commissioner.
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