Meth on the Wind River Reservation

What resources are avaliable to support your efforts?

A Mexican drug ring based in Ogden, Utah developed a comprehensive business plan that directed over 98 pounds of meth – enough to provide over 45,000 doses, in and around the Wind River Reservation.

The plan involved the following elements: a potential consumer base (Indians living on the reservation or nearby); successful businesses that already prey on addicts (the liquor stores); a regular source of income their customers could use to buy meth (the monthly checks); and the conviction that alcohol consumers could be switched over to being meth consumers (free samples). Within five years, the reservation’s addict-rich environment became a 2.2 million acre mecca for meth abuse. Assaults tripled, theft doubled and child abuse increased 85%.

Discussion Points:
What steps can an individual or community take to reduce or address drug activity within a community?

Learn about your neighborhood and get to know your neighbors.  Work with agencies like Neighborhood Watch and your local police departments.

• Hold regular meetings to help residents get to know each other and to decide upon program strategies and activities.
• Consider linking with an existing organization, such as a citizens’ association, community development office, tenants’ association, or housing authority. They may be able to provide an existing infrastructure you can use.
• Ask people who seldom leave their homes to be “window watchers,” looking out for children and reporting any unusual activities in the neighborhood, such as unusual car traffic at night.
• Sponsor a crime and drug prevention fair at a church hall, temple, shopping mall, or community center.
• Gather the facts about crime in your neighborhood. Check police reports, conduct victimization surveys, and learn residents’ perceptions about crimes. Often, residents’ opinions are not supported by facts, and accurate information can reduce the fear of crime.
• Physical conditions like abandoned cars or overgrown vacant lots contribute to crime. Sponsor cleanups, encourage residents to beautify the area, and ask them to turn on outdoor lights at night.

Work with small businesses to repair rundown storefronts, clean up littered streets, and create jobs for young people.

Resources:

Contact your local police department for recommendations or suggestions in your area or contact the Utah Coalition for Crime Prevention or local Neighborhood Watch Program for more information.

• National Crime Prevention http://www.ncpc.org/
• Utah Council for Crime Prevention: http://www.utcrimeprevention.org/default.htm (1-800 280-UTAH (8824
• National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children: http://www.nationaldec.org/
• Salt Lake City COPS Methamphetamine Initiative: http://www.ci.slc.ut.us/police/SpecialInvestigations/meth.htm
• Office of Community Oriented Policing  http://www.cops.usdoj.gov