Detroit drug pipeline targets North Dakota Native Americans. How they're fighting back.
Two police officers led a frantic mother into a Bismarck, North Dakota, hotel room in 2018 to identify the tattooed arm of a body found sprawled on a bed.
Investigators held up a sheet to cover the ashen face of the young Native American woman, while Rhonda Packineau confirmed the victim was her 21-year-old daughter, Cheyenne.
The 6-foot-2 basketball standout’s left forearm displayed “Kasten,” the name of her 1-year-old son, inked in black Old English font. Cheyenne named him for her favorite court move, “casting” three-pointers.
Her talent playing for the high school in the town of Parshall, on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, secured Cheyenne a college scholarship. But sports injuries led to a pain pill addiction that ultimately cut short her studies — and eventually, her life.
Her doctor first prescribed opioids years ago, before physicians and patients understood the addiction risks. Once Cheyenne was hooked, she easily found illegal drugs in Bismarck and on the reservation, a two-hour drive northwest of the city.
Both areas are largely supplied by dealers from the Detroit area who get their drugs from Mexican cartels that are flooding the U.S. every year with thousands of kilos of methamphetamines, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl.
https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/nation/2021/09/24/detroit-drug-trafficking-in-north-dakota-targets-native-americans/5810676001/
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