{"id":2917,"date":"2022-10-16T01:39:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-16T01:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=2917"},"modified":"2025-05-06T01:41:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T01:41:12","slug":"city-needs-mental-health-professions-to-address-rise-in-fentanyl-drug-addictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2022\/10\/16\/city-needs-mental-health-professions-to-address-rise-in-fentanyl-drug-addictions\/","title":{"rendered":"City needs mental health professions to address rise in fentanyl, drug addictions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Inspector Charlie Adams in the same Hawthorne Huddle meeting described a sad and dangerous scenario of fentanyl addicts on West Broadway.&nbsp; \u201cThere were two bus stops on Broadway and Lyndale and what people driving through saw were bus shelters jam-packed with people smoking the drug out in broad daylight.&nbsp; They don\u2019t care,\u201d he said.&nbsp; \u201cBut with the assistance of Metro Transit and 4<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;Precincts Community Liaison Bill Magnuson, we were able to get those two shelters temporarily removed, which was honestly required an act of God.&nbsp; So, they went on over to the other side where Cub Foods is and continued.\u201d&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen we move people from one location, they\u2019re going to pop up someplace else.&nbsp; We are aware that now they are selling drugs out of their cars. Instead of sitting in front of Merwin and 626, they have a path of concentration including a house over on 21<sup>st<\/sup>&nbsp;we believe to be a place of smokers\u2019 gatherings.&nbsp; Bill Magnuson is dealing with that problem as we speak.&nbsp;&nbsp; This new drug is an out-of-control monster, and we have to stay on top of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When asked about bringing back the Drug Task Force, Adams explained that the department was down 300 officers, and until they could get the numbers up with qualified personnel, there were going to be a lot of critical issues needing to be addressed that could not happen, not just yet.&nbsp; But it doesn\u2019t mean they aren\u2019t trying, especially getting back to community engagement, he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adams said the is difference between Micky\u2019s Liquors, on Plymouth Avenue, and Merwin Liquors is that Micky\u2019s has off-duty police officers working there and a staff person who employed to keep the area clean.&nbsp; MPD has had several meetings with Winners, prompting the hiring of security at night.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We Push for Peace has made a big difference, he said. \u201cAlong with ATF and the Hennepin County Sheriff&#8217;s Department, we all partnered in what we call Operation Endeavor.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s a public safety initiative based on visibility of uniformed officers. It has been doing great work taking on some of the bad guys. I can see a significant reduction with some of the addicts out there because of our efforts of intercepting these packages of fentanyl pills. So, we&#8217;re going to continue to do that with the help of the DEA, ATF, and our CERT teams and weapons unit. We\u2019re putting a pretty big hit on the fentanyl fields,\u201d Adams said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Residents will see more squad cars and officers coming in on their days off just being present in those parking lots including AutoZone and Walgreens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adams said he was a young officer back in the crack days and when addicts were walking around like zombies. Sadly, he said, &nbsp;the Minneapolis Police Department has no narcotics enforcement units.&nbsp; \u201cWe have to use our weapons teams as best we can,\u201d he said.&nbsp; \u201cAnd we keep getting these pills off the street by charging some of the sellers.&nbsp; Hopefully, we can keep doing what we\u2019ve been doing.&nbsp; It took a while to get lowering statistics in the crack epidemic.&nbsp; What we really need are the professionals who deal with addictions to at least offer services.&nbsp; Most of the specialists will say it\u2019s too dangerous!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adams says he will not arrest an addict.&nbsp; \u201cWith the problems they already have, jail is not an option. &nbsp;Until the city and the addiction professionals figure out a way to get funding for treatment to those struggling, there will continue to be folks walking around in higher numbers living in a dark and different world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI want to use whatever human resources we have at our disposal to get these pills off the street.&nbsp; I want to make those arrests.&nbsp; I want to let more addicts know there is hope and services available.&nbsp; They don\u2019t have to take the help, but at least know it\u2019s there for them,\u201d Adams said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inspector Charlie Adams in the same Hawthorne Huddle meeting described a sad and dangerous scenario of fentanyl addicts on West Broadway.&nbsp; \u201cThere were two bus stops on Broadway and Lyndale and what people driving through saw were bus shelters jam-packed with people smoking the drug out in broad daylight.&nbsp; They don\u2019t care,\u201d he said.&nbsp; \u201cBut [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1905,537,951],"class_list":["post-2917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-drug-abuse","tag-mental-health","tag-minneapolis-police","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2917"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2918,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2917\/revisions\/2918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}