Energy boom in North Dakota brings wealth - and increase in drug use - to reservations

Drug paraphernalia was found stuffed between seats in the back of a police vehicle after officers on the reservation arrested a pregnant woman. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Dec. 12, 2014 2:56 PM PT

No longer is meth cooked by small-time operations on the wind-swept prairies that make up the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara reservation. Officials estimate 90% of the drugs funneled into the reservation come from other states and Mexico.

A man rests his head on his knee after being pulled over and cited for driving under suspension by Three Affiliated Tribes police in New Town, N.D. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Tribal police check a man for contraband after he was picked up on a warrant. The man admitted to using meth in the past but said he had stopped. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Three Affiliated Tribes Police Sgt. Dawn White talks with a pregnant woman pulled over in a traffic stop and cited for possession of drug paraphernalia. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Dusk falls on Drags Wolf Village, a community within Fort Berthold Indian Reservation (also known as the Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara Nation) in western North Dakota. A flare looms over the hills above, evidence of the oil boom that hit the region in 2008. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

After performing morning cleaning duties, and having breakfast, Amelia Reed and her cellmate retire to their beds for a nap, passing the time. It’s not yet 8:30 a.m. Both women say they struggled with meth leading up to being booked, but hope to maintain the sobriety they’ve earned since being in the detention program at Gerald Tex Fox Justice Center. Amelia had a miscarriage while at the center. She was released from the facility and currently lives with her boyfriend at her family’s home. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Amelia Reed says goodbye to boyfriend Mason Fox last May after he visited her in jail in New Town, N.D., on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. Reed says she once blew most of $147,000 in oil royalties on drugs. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Mary Fox visits last May with great-grandsons Maleek, Dean and Matthew, from left. Maleek and Dean were born addicted to meth and taken in by Fox’s daughter, their grandmother. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Micah Aulaumea, left, and his sister Airiannah Packineau, along with another sister, are cared for by their grandmother after their mother’s arrest on drug charges. She later rejoined her children under the terms of her probation. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Twila Aulaumea, left, and her mother, Mary Fox, help Aulaumea’s granddaughters get ready for an event at Fox’s home. Several members of the family have struggled with drugs. (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)