Possible partial reason for all the looting & arson.
April 29, 2018
State and federal investigators in Minnesota seized almost 1,500 pounds of meth last year — four times the total retrieved five years ago. Some of that meth was bound for major dealers from Green Bay to Fargo, but plenty was left over to wreak havoc here. The number of Minnesotans treated for meth addiction doubled in the past decade, to almost 14,000 last year — more than those treated for addiction to heroin and other opioids combined.
The number of overdose deaths, which peaked during the first meth crisis at 18 in 2006, soared to 140 in 2016, according to the most recent data compiled by the Minnesota Department of Health. At least 80 people have faced federal meth distribution charges over the past two years.
“Minneapolis-St. Paul has become a major market,” said Kent Bailey, a former senior U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who now leads a federally funded counter-narcotics program in the metro. “You can sit there and keep your head in the freaking sand but the sheer volume of the drugs being seized indicates otherwise.”
Many of those caught supplying Minnesota’s meth have had direct ties to major, internationally known drug cartels in southern Mexico.
“The overarching message was that Minnesota is dealing with two simultaneous drug epidemics: opioids and methamphetamines,” Brooker said.
“Opioids and prescription drugs are an issue — no doubt about it,” Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson said. “But meth is still king here.”
the drug cartels had discovered a more efficient and cost-effective way to crank out a more potent version of the drug. The key ingredients are imported from China to “super labs” in southern Mexico, where the meth can be manufactured to look like crystal shards befitting one of its nicknames: ice.
Hidden in secret compartments in passenger vehicles or more often commingled with legitimate goods on tractor trailers, the drug is smuggled across the border and distributed throughout the country by a web of couriers like Ramirez. And while record-high busts may draw attention, federal agents in Minnesota estimate that they stop just 10 to 20 percent of the meth making its way into the state each year.
https://www.startribune.com/meth-crisis-roaring-back-how-cartels-infiltrated-meth-s-lethal-path-to-state/480680891/