Businesses Sound Off On Carlson Sentencing

DULUTH - While Jim Carlson is behind bars, and Last Place on Earth remains closed, downtown business owners, along with Duluth police, see Thursday’s 17-year sentence as a victory. Overall, the community seems happy with the 17-year sentence, but many think he should have gotten even more, according to FOX 21's Julia Russell.Even though the main source of synthetic drugs is gone for good, Duluth police say they’re still seeing it pop up throughout the community. "I wish it would be more because I truly believe that Jim was given a lot of opportunities to stop and he did ruin so many lives," said senior print specialist at Sheldon, Jeanette Hurubin. Sheldon is directly next door to the old Last Place on Earth building. Since the closing of Last Place, the printing company has cleaned up shop, and put the memories of what used to be behind them."We just believe that patience pays off and life is back to normal," Hurubin said. As for Duluth police, they're just glad the Last Place on Earth saga is finally over."This is probably one of the biggest cases in the country and definitely was probably the largest commercial synthetic sales in the country," explained Duluth Police Chief Gordon Ramsay. Since the shop closed, police, detox centers, and hospitals have seen a significant decline in the use of the now illegal drug."It's still out there,” said CEO of the Center for Alcohol and Drug Treatment, Gary Olson. “It's still available I'm sure on the internet and other places." Chief Ramsay says he thinks the biggest issue with synthetic drugs right now is internet sales. Despite online drug sales, synthetics still aren't causing as big of a problem as they once did."It was the unpredictability that was really the main feature that we focused on because we just didn't know how people were going to behave when they were using synthetics," Olson remembers. With an unpredictable drug off the streets, and the man notorious for selling it locked up the community can take a sigh of relief and know closing up shop was a job well done."The culmination of all the hard work paid off," sighed Chief Ramsay. Duluth police want to thank everyone who took part in closing Last Place on Earth; from the downtown business owners, to emergency room professionals, all the way to the people living in the Twin Ports for their patience and understanding through this entire battle. Many community members, including Chief Ramsay are still on edge because Carlson still has the chance to appeal his sentence in the next 14 days.