Lake Superior Drug and Violent Crime Task Force Receives $100,000 Grant
DULUTH, Minn.– It was busy year in 2020 for the Duluth Police’s Lake Superior Drug and Violent Crime Task Force as St. Louis County saw its highest number of fentanyl-related overdoses ever recorded. Officials say a large yearly national grant has played a key role in the department’s drug busts the last few years, some of which set records.
For the third year in a row the task force received a grant of $100,000 from the Office Of National Drug Control Policy High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program.
Task force Commander Jeff Kazel says their work is crucial for the community. According to 2020 medical examiner’s data, 38 fentanyl related overdoses took place in St. Louis County that year, the highest number they’ve ever recorded.
“In the last four days, we’ve had 11 overdoses,” said Kazel. “We have a very large pool of addiction in this area that has been taken advantage of by people that want to sell to them. And the community is suffering from it.”
The task force has been fighting drug trafficking in the northland since 2017. They started receiving the grant yearly in 2019, to help with supplemental costs.
“A lot of it can be for equipment trading, supplies, overtime, travel,” said Kazel.
Commander Kazel says the program also helps them with investigations like the one that resulted in a large drug roundup last fall.
“We wouldn’t be able to do it without them,” said Kazel.
The task force has 19 sworn members plus other civilian personnel to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations in the community. But officials say it’s also about outreach, working to not only find, but help rehabilitate those suffering from addiction.
“If I can help somebody, not only save their lives but we make them a productive citizen of the community,” said Kazel. “Give them their life back.”
The task force is growing, with plans to add a second peer recovery specialist in the works. The task force’s hotline number is 218-730-4009.
