By Joe Morey News Editor
Following another drug overdose on the LCO Reservation that claimed the life of a young man, several community members organized the “Community Against Meth and Heroin March,” which took place on Sunday, Sept. 5, to call attention to the drug epidemic that is currently claiming a dozen lives a year at LCO.
Organized by Charles Jared Kagigebi, Steve Clause and Tony Gouge, the March, started at the Tribal Office Pavilion and found more than 100 community members driving to individual communities and then proceeding to march to several homes where alleged drug dealers reside and sell from.
The tone of the March was not to solely put those suspected dealers down, but to ask them to stop selling to the community and using a bullhorn in front of their homes, they were asked to come out and join them in the March.
One of the marchers, Mike DeMain, said it was also up to the community to reach out to the addicted because they need help and not to turn their backs on them. He also called out the dealers saying they need to quit dealing or leave.
One marcher told community members to start making it uncomfortable for drug dealers by standing out in front of their homes as a way of protest. The more uncomfortable they become, they will leave, he said.
Kagigebi, one of the organizers, told LCO News prior to the March, “We hope to bring awareness straight to the dealers that are pushing these poisons in our community. They’re killing our people, our friends and family. We just hope to put a stop to the drugs being pushed here at LCO. I know we can’t stop it all, but we need to try.”
Kagigebi went on to say, “How many more lives need to be lost before we all come together and say we’ve had enough.”
Another March is tentatively being planned for early October.
