The dark side of an oil boom ravages a North Dakota community

[mahatmakanejeeves]

The dark side of an oil boom ravages a North Dakota community

North Dakota’s oil rush brings cash and promise to reservation, along with drug-fueled crime

FORT BERTHOLD INDIAN RESERVATION, N.D. — Tribal police Sgt. Dawn White is racing down a dusty two-lane road — siren blaring, police radio crackling — as she attempts to get to the latest 911 call on a reservation that is a blur of oil rigs and bright-orange gas flares.
....

In just five years, the Bakken formation in North Dakota has gone from producing about 200,000 barrels to 1.1 million barrels of oil a day, making North Dakota the No. 2 oil-producing state, behind Texas, and luring thousands of workers from around the country.

But there is a dark side to the multibillion-dollar boom in the oil fields, which stretch across western North Dakota into Montana and part of Canada. The arrival of highly paid oil workers living in sprawling “man camps” with limited spending opportunities has led to a crime wave -- including murders, aggravated assaults, rapes, human trafficking and robberies -- fueled by a huge market for illegal drugs, primarily heroin and methamphetamine.

Especially hard-hit are the Indian lands at the heart of the Bakken. Created in 1870 on rolling grasslands along the Missouri River, Fort Berthold (pronounced Birth-Old), was named after a U.S. Army fort and is home to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation -- known as the MHA Nation, or the Three Affiliated Tribes. ... “It’s like a tidal wave, it’s unbelievable,” said Diane Johnson, chief judge at the MHA Nation. She said crime has tripled in the past two years and that 90 percent is drug-related. “The drug problem that the oil boom has brought is destroying our reservation.”

See, for example: Grandmother, 3 grandchildren found shot, killed in North Dakota

That incident is mentioned in the WaPo story.

[Malraiders]

1. I've worked construction jobs in south east Texas refineries and power houses. All big

jobs are usually plagued with drug use and sales. Alcohol has always been prominant and a boom for saloon owners. Some even set up small drive through shacks on the side of the road so that workers could buy beer as soon as they left the job.

Pot use was abundant when I first started working jobs. But as longer hours were demanded of workers, Amphetamine edged onto the work place.

Later cocaine and amps were widely used.

I have seen pushers pay off General Foremans on the job so that they could sale their product in the parking lot.

I have seen these guys open their trunks that were filled with all sorts of drugs for sale. Like a pharmacyu.

Some guys get hooked and stay hooked long after these jobs end.

Don't think that the Big Pharmas don't reap the profits from drug use in the work place.

[jwirr]

2. Worked on reservations in that area of the country in the 60-70s and this is not a new story. The

same problems existed then but on a much smaller scale. And MS Johnson is correct this escalation of drug use will destroy them. The tribal authorities try to stop it but when it crosses cultural lines and has outsiders involved then it is even harder. Federal law governs the reservation but often times white law steps in and then there are in effect two countries that have to deal with each others law. A nightmare indeed.

[femmocrat]

3. K& R Excellent article.

Thanks for the links.