Fridley Police Work with Feds, Local Law Enforcement to Halt Heroin

The illegal drug market that three local sheriffs called attention to Thursday has not gone unnoticed in Fridley, according to the city's police department.

Fridley Police Lt. Mike Monsrud said in an email Friday that his department has been focused on the problem in partnership with federal and county law enforcement:

The heroin issue has been on our radar for a few years now. We had noticed an increase in overdoses associated with the use of heroin and it greatly concerned us. At our request we entered into a long term investigation with the DEA [U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency] that targeted the heroin dealers that were distributing in Fridley. ... This heroin investigation with the DEA is still ongoing and we work closely with the Anoka–Hennepin Drug task force on a daily basis to make [sure] heroin investigations are a top priority because it is an extremely dangerous drug. Some of the purest heroin in the country is turning up here in the Minneapolis area. That extremely pure heroin is leading to a lot of overdoses by users who are not [accustomed] to such purity.

Monsrud pointed to a case last year that he called "one of our success stories" in working with federal and county-level law enforcement: A 48-year old Fridley man got a 188-month sentence in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiring with others to distribute heroin and oxycodone from 2004–2010.

Getting Rid of Unneeded Prescription Drugs
Prescription painkillers like oxycodone appear to be playing a role locally as gateway drugs to abuse of heroin, according to the sheriffs from Anoka, Hennepin and Ramsey counties.

Fridley Police and the DEA are hosting a prescription drug disposal event in connection with the City of Fridley's spring recycling drop-off day on April 21, 2012, from 9 a.m.–1 p.m. at the Fridley Public Works Garage, 400 71st Ave. NE. The public works facility is between Columbia Arena and .