“One pill can kill.”
That’s U.S. Attorney Andy Luger who told WCCO’s Chad Hartman Monday that massive amounts of fentanyl are coming into this country from Mexico, where the cartels are making it as fast as they can.
“It's sort of the traditional path from coke to meth to now fentanyl, coming out of Mexico and the Mexican cartels,” Luger says.
Luger says the cartels cut up opioids with fentanyl, without any regard for accuracy.
“And then they press these pills and they make them look just like you're buying, you know, opioid pills,” explains Luger.
The drugs are coming into the U.S. at extremely low prices and that is causing a record number of overdose deaths in the state and in the country.
Luger adds that the increase in crime across the country, including in the Twin Cities, is more disturbing than the numbers show.
“The word that most law enforcement agents use, and I use, is militaristic,” Luger says. “What used to be pistols turn into machine guns, through a device called a switch, more and more in Minneapolis and St. Paul in particular, but in other areas as well. And what that does is takes the violence up many levels. So it’s not just the numbers. Yes, the numbers of carjackings, shootings and homicides are alarming, but it’s also the nature of the violence which is much more militaristic and done with a brazen attitude that suggests just a complete indifference to law enforcement.”
Luger says that his office is addressing the increases in crime, and he’s not interested in the finger pointing or blaming elected officials or other law enforcement for what has happened in Minnesota and around the country.
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