Governor Noem has been taking on the challenge of drug addiction, particularly by fighting the meth epidemic across our state.

Governor Noem launched the famous “Meth. We’re On It.” campaign, and it was the most effective drug awareness campaign South Dakota has ever experienced. Huge numbers of South Dakotans reached out for help with their addiction. Because of this campaign, more people had conversations about meth, identified people who have addiction issues, picked up the phone, and asked for help. That’s the point of awareness campaigns, and that’s exactly the result we were hoping for.

The website offering help received tens of thousands of hits, and hundreds of individuals reached out for help. As a result, South Dakota was the only state in the nation that actually experienced a sizable decrease in overdose deaths when the pandemic hit. While overdoses increased by 30% nationally, overdoses in South Dakota dropped by 16%.

But the drug crisis is being fueled by a porous Southern border, which President Biden has failed to secure. Law enforcement across South Dakota has reiterated to Governor Noem time and time again that the majority of the meth coming into the state is originating over the Southern border.

If our country wants to get serious about fighting the meth epidemic, the border must be secured. Governor Noem sent South Dakota National Guard troops to the southern border for this very reason, and she will continue pushing President Biden to do his job and solve the border crisis.

Governor Noem is improving South Dakota’s substance abuse treatment and encouraging those we love to seek help. Together, we can defeat the drug epidemic.