Minnesota law enforcement saw surges in meth, cocaine and heroin seizures last year, more evidence that drug cartels are operating a thriving network from Mexico to the Midwest.
The state's multijurisdictional Violent Crime Enforcement Teams impounded 1,706 pounds of meth last year, a 49% increase from 2018 and a 625% rise over the past five years, according to data released by the Department of Public Safety this week.
The task forces, designed to target drug and gang crime, confiscated 55 pounds of heroin last year, more than double the amount in 2018, according to the data. They seized 106 pounds of cocaine, an 80% increase from the year prior.
The data reflect a vast shift in drug trafficking in Minnesota over the past two decades. In 2003, during the height of the last meth wave, authorities discovered 410 meth labs in Minnesota. Last year they found only four.
Instead, Mexican cartel organizations have staked their claim here. Minnesota has become a national distribution hub for meth, creating a new epidemic of cheaper and more potent product than ever before.
"Meth is our biggest drug of choice here, and it's cartel meth," said U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald.
Much of the cocaine and heroin is also coming from the Mexican pipeline. Local and federal cops have been working together to thwart the drug surge. Last fall, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced a new field office based in Duluth to help mitigate the drug trade ravaging the North Shore area.
The U.S. Attorney's Office has doubled its prosecutors in the unit focused on drugs, guns and gangs, and from fiscal year 2018 to 2019 it doubled meth prosecutions, MacDonald said.
