Duluth: Synthetic drugs threaten shelter's safe haven, staff says

The growing use of synthetic drugs is threatening to shred the safety net offered to the city's most vulnerable residents at the CHUM shelter in downtown Duluth, the nonprofit agency's staff says.

In the past year, CHUM staff members have caught more than 100 people smoking, snorting or injecting synthetic drugs on shelter property, even though clients know such activities mean automatic expulsion for at least two weeks.

Shawn Carr, a support staffer at CHUM who oversees the shelter most nights, considers the growing use of synthetic drugs a stubborn obstacle.

"It pulls us away from our primary mission, which is helping people," he said. "These days, we have to spend so much of our time policing."

CHUM continues to enforce policies of zero tolerance when it comes to drugs, and that hard line has strained relationships at times, according to Carr.

"Some people who I was very friendly with in the past now see me almost as the enemy," he said.

Carr said that during one particularly tough week recently, the shelter kicked out 16 people for using synthetic drugs on its premises.

Shelter resident Josh Mason, who moved to Duluth from Colorado, was surprised by the amount of synthetic drug use he encountered locally.

"I came to Duluth to get away from that stuff, but it seems like there are even more drugs and junkies here," he said. "People are coming in high all the time, getting in fights and trying to steal from one another. Folks need a safe place to

CHUM provided shelter for 1,090 people in 2012, and on a typical night 50 to 60 people sleep there, according to Kim Randolph, stabilization services director.

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Duluth: Synthetic drugs threaten shelter's safe haven, staff says