New Town students organize to combat meth
New Town students organize to combat meth
By Jerry W. Kram
Sometimes the best way to teach is to have your students do.
That is the philosophy that New Town High School teacher Bobbi Larson’s is trying the Tribal Government and Tribal History classes she is teaching this year. Rather than just have her students study the issues facing the Fort Berthold Reservation, she is having them do something about them. So on Thursday, April 11, the students of the two classes will present a resolution to the Tribal Business Council that would boost the enforcement of laws against using and selling methamphetamine and increase the opportunities for rehabilitation for addicts who want to stop using the drug.
“It was something that our students are very concerned about because of the homicides and other crimes that have been happening in New Town,” Larson said. “Meth is all around us and we wanted to know why nobody says anything about it.”
This isn’t an academic question for many of the students in the classes. When asked, a majority raised their hands when asked if they knew someone who used meth. For one student, the issue is very close to home.
“A few years ago my mother went to jail for using meth,” said Elyssa Lingle. “No one should see the things I saw. No one should have to go without meals because their parents aren’t hungry because of the meth. We shouldn’t have to take care of our siblings when we are barely old enough to take care of ourselves.”
