The South Dakota legislature is tasked with developing a bill that addresses substance abuse, whether alcohol, meth or opiates. The committee that’s looking closer at the issue met earlier in the week.
While alcohol abuse was part of the discussion, the committee took a closer look at opioid and methamphetamine prevention.
The White House has proposed more than a billion dollars to help states deal with the prescription opioid addiction epidemic. And also address the increase used of meth.
South Dakota legislators are taking a closer look at how to deal with the issue locally.
Kevin Jensen is the vice president of the Prairie view prevention program. Jensen says the methamphetamine issue in the state is a unique one.
“The meth issue is different than the oxy issue and different than the alcohol issue," Jensen says. "It would really be hard to roll everything all into one, because methamphetamine is such a different animal. If I left here right now, making all legal purchases, by about five o’clock I could have three to four grams of meth created. It’s not that hard to do.”
Jensen says a program established in the early 2000’s aimed at meth education reduced use in the state. He says funding for that program dried up in 2009. And since then, Jensen says the meth arrests have gone up significantly…
“In 2015 there was 2,125 arrests and 23 meth labs," Jensen added. "A meth lab now, is no more—when we first started this, meth labs were the big… contraptions with the hoses and anhydrous ammonia and all that. Right now, a meth lab is a 20 ounce pop bottle. And, things have changes. It’s called the one pot method.”
Meanwhile, Terry Nebelsick is the superintendent of the Huron School District. He says local law enforcement is telling him that for the first time, teenagers are saying marijuana is easier to get than alcohol…
“I think the issue would be that, sometimes law abiding citizens are not willing to cross the line to sell alcohol or furnish alcohol to minors because, until they do that, they’re not breaking the law,” Nebelsick says. “However, in South Dakota, if someone is using marijuana they have already decided to go beyond the border of what’s acceptable in our laws. Therefore it’s not that much of a stretch for them to furnish it to young people.”
Nebelsick says he sees alcohol as a gateway drug to marijuana.
Officials with the Substance Abuse Prevention group say they will take a closer look at meth use on reservations. The group will convene again August 17.