Following the December 12 announcement that President Biden had issued clemency for around 1500 individuals across the US, including Duluth’s Jim Carlson, reactions from Duluth politicians and law enforcement has been coming in.

Carlson, the former of the long-shuttered downtown head shop “Last Place on Earth” was convicted on federal drug charges a decade ago and was sentenced to 17 and a half years in prison for the sale of synthetic drugs.

Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert, who was a state legislator at the time of the arrest, said he was shocked by the news and completely opposed to the decision

“It’s disappointing and I feel like it not just sends the wrong message to people who are interested in putting their personal monetary gain above individual health or the health of a community, but also that team that [worked] so, so hard to get a conviction,” Reinert said sighting the efforts of former Mayor Don Ness, former Duluth Police Chief Gordon Ramsay, the state legislator and more.

Reinert continued that despite the news, he’s still proud of the work that was done to help protect people from synthetic drugs.

“It’s now been a minute and people forget that what was being sold and ingested into bodies was incredibly harmful,” said Reinert. “The work we did along with the State Board of Pharmacy to help classify some of these materials and make them restricted [and] in some [cases] illegal, you know ,that work is still around.”

St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay was the Duluth Police Chief at the time of conviction and he also expressed his disappointed in the decision.

“A lot of families are still struggling today because of what he peddled and, obviously, the downtown community had a significant impact on them,” said Ramsay. “So, it was discouraging, to say the least.”

Ramsay also remembered the impact the synthetic drugs had on the community at the time.

“I had a newspaper article that I had saved on how he was saying this is synthetic marijuana and downplaying the seriousness of it, but the more attention his business got, the more business it brought in,” remembered Ramsay. “For those that lived through that time frame and either worked in the ERs or worked in the area, this stuff was nothing like marijuana. It was more like acid and it had a lot of long-term significant impact on people’s brain chemistry. A guy I know, his son, is in a group home now because of the chemicals that were in those drugs. It impacted his brain to the point where he can’t really care for himself and he had a healthy brain before he used that stuff.”

Minnesota State Senator for District 3 Grant Hauschild has taken his displeasure with the announcement one step further; writing a formal letter to President Biden to express his concern and opposition to the granting of clemency.

“By granting clemency to Jim Carlson, the message sent to communities like Duluth is that those who profit from endangering lives can avoid full accountability. This decision jeopardizes the trust and morale of the law enforcement officers and community leaders who work to make our neighborhoods safe,” reads the letter in part. “I respectfully urge you to reconsider this commutation and to rescind it. Communities like Duluth need to know that their struggles to rebuild from crises like these are recognized and supported by their federal leaders.”

Carlson is scheduled to be released on Sunday, December 22.