How fondly I remember six years ago when Governor Kristi Noem, with her usual rhetorical flair and high-priced ad campaigns, rallied all South Dakotans to get on meth:
Six years later, the brilliant website Noem created to fight meth addiction now advertises Thai online gambling, and according to U.S. Attorney Ron Parsons, meth remains “the biggest scourge we have in South Dakota“:
While fentanyl continues to dominate national headlines, South Dakota’s U.S. Attorney Ron Parsons says methamphetamine remains the state’s most serious drug problem. Parsons, now serving his second term after being reappointed by President Donald Trump, said combatting drug trafficking is among his top federal priorities.
“The use of fentanyl was a new thing when I first started last time in 2018,” Parsons said. “The first fentanyl overdoses were hitting, and now fentanyl has increased. But methamphetamine is still the biggest scourge we have in South Dakota” [Riley Harrington, “U.S. Attorney: Meth Still South Dakota’s Most Serious Drug Threat,” KOOL Radio, 2025.11.27].
We may be catching meth shippers and dealers, but that just means South Dakota still has lots of meth buyers and users.
Spendy ad campaigns, no results—that’s Kristi Noem’s legacy.
Again and again, just look at Portugal. That’s the way to go. I could dream up a ranchers fantasy with Kristi as the star for one of those commercials. Maybe more.
Your dream will likely morph into the worst nightmare you ever dreamed of.