The United States Attorney for Minnesota made a stop through Duluth to meet with local law enforcement.

During their meeting Duluth police highlighted the drug and violent crime problem that the Northland as well as the rest of the state are facing. Specifically how bad the fentanyl crisis is.

United States Attorney for Minnesota Andrew Luger says that the problem is worse than what he had thought prior to speaking with local authorities. Fentanyl is often laced with other pills or drugs so even if you do it one time, the outcome can be fatal.

“You don’t need to be an addict and you don’t need to have heroin or other kinds of drugs that you overdose on in your system. You can literally just take one pill and it can end your life,” said Luger.

Luger says that the United States Attorney’s office is growing so efforts to help end the crisis will grow as the office advances. “When we bring down larger cases we’re going back to talk to the community, law enforcement, county attorney’s office, all working with the community and victims of crime to talk about how together we can solve these crises.”

Continuing their trip around northern Minnesota, Luger says their next stop was at the Bois Fort Band of the Chippewa reservation. Luger had a similar conversation with tribal leaders about gun crime and drug crime.

The biggest message Luger shared was to not take any pills or drugs without knowing exactly where they came from. He says this is a story they hear all the time. “We’re just going to take one of these pills, we’re all going to do it together, not knowing what’s in it. And there is just a little bit of fentanyl mixed in with a pill that can end somebody’s life. We don’t want that to happen to anybody else here,” said Luger.