Now, that danger has been compounded by the financial, social, and emotional upheavals of the coronavirus pandemic. On Philadelphia's Kensington Avenue, the desperation is palpable. Opioid abuse has skyrocketed over the last two decades in the United States and Philadelphia is no exception. But other communities in Pennsylvania and other states have been reporting increases in overdoses during the pandemic — so much so that the American Medical Association issued a memo earlier this summer saying it was “greatly concerned.”. That same week the attempted robbery of a man selling pills further south, in the Fishtown section of the city, ended with three people wounded by gunfire. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw offered accolades to officers and officials involved in the 5th raid of the Kensington Initiative at a press conference announcing results Monday. It's been described as the street of lost souls and forgotten dreams. Your neighborhood has probably changed a bit amid the pandemic. So are synthetic cannabinoids like K-2. It has amorphous and somewhat disputed boundaries, but is generally agreed to include the 25th police district. Eyewitness News at 4pm 12:36 - 14H AGO PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Authorities showed off Tuesday the results of a massive drug bust in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood. Philadelphia long was known for some of the purest and cheapest heroin in the country, but in recent years, much of the heroin supply was replaced by fentanyl, sometimes without users’ knowledge. (Solomon Jones for WHYY) I went to Kensington on Black Friday and saw the devastation of the heroin crisis. “I think it’ll just catalyze that transition that was already occurring,” Beletsky said. Globally, the pandemic has spurred worries about an increase in drug deaths. The coronavirus pandemic does not appear to have reduced drug supply around Kensington and East Allegheny Avenues, where open opioid use is common. It’s not enough to rely on the word of law enforcement about conditions on the street, he said. Stimulant drugs like cocaine are being cut with depressant fentanyl. Drugs in Kensington: An Inside Peak at a Dangerous Philly Neighborhood Drugs in Kensington have been a big problem, but officials are now targeting this Philadelphia neighborhood in order … Fatal overdoses have gone up since the beginning of the year in Philadelphia, health officials here said, but are currently about level with last summer. Wait! The purity of the drugs on offer in Kensington is a running concern for people in addiction there, and not necessarily because unadulterated drugs allow for a more pleasurable high. Samantha, a homeless heroin addict, pauses under a bridge where she lives with other addicts in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, on July 31, 2017. He regularly smoked crack cocaine and marijuana, but avoided opioids. In 2010, three victims were found strangled. Philadelphia was plagued by two epidemics in 2017: Opioid addiction and homelessness. August 24, 2020. Drug users do their best to keep themselves safe: Russo specifically seeks out the few dealers in the neighborhood that still sell pure heroin. On March 30, Nicholas Troxell, a heroin user well known by many in the Kensington community, was shot and killed on an El train passing through North Philly. What’s often ignored is the Drug Enforcement Agency’s crackdown on the industry, which forced doctors to cut off medications and sent patients to the streets to seek out alternative sources. Located in Kensington, one of Philadelphia’s hardest-hit neighborhoods, Prevention Point, which began three decades ago in response to the AIDS crisis, offers medications for opioid use disorder (buprenorphine and naltrexone), distributes naloxone kits for reversal of opioid overdoses, and provides sterile syringes to reduce the risk of infections. In underground economies like the drug market, disruptions in the global supply chain can wreak havoc for people in addiction, said Leo Beletsky, the director of the Health in Justice Action Lab at Northeastern University. The isolation, fear, and loneliness so many have experienced with the pandemic can be especially acute for people with substance use disorders, especially those with underlying mental health problems. In Philadelphia’s Kensington district, home to one of the largest open-air drug markets in the United States, crowds of sellers and buyers flock to corners as if there never were a pandemic. “The blocks [where drug dealing takes place] never closed,” said Christine … The COVID-19 pandemic has upended supply chains around the globe, as corporations, governments, and consumers search for everything from surgical masks and hand sanitizer to boats and bicycles. Fentanyl, heroin and painkillers all took their toll. It is also known as an area of prostitution. Before you go, would you In Philadelphia’s Kensington district, home to one of the largest open-air drug markets in the United States, crowds of sellers and buyers flock to corners as if there never were a pandemic. “What we were seeing is, in fact, it looks like there still appears to be the same drug supply as before,” she said. John’s drug use varied. Fentanyl is behind most of the city’s fatal overdoses, and over the last few years has been added into drugs that aren’t even opioids, with entirely different effects on users. 950 N Federal Highway Suite 115 Drug users risk overdoses when they’re alone. Christine Russo stands for a portrait on East Allegheny Avenue in Philadelphia's Kensington section on Friday. “Business reigns. Philadelphia County has the highest overdose rate of any of the 10 most populous counties in America. People in recovery may relapse. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office arrested a total of 14 people and said they believed the ringleader used children to sell their drugs on street corners. Jeffrey Stockbridge has spent years documenting Kensington Avenue in Philadelphia The street is the city's poor suburb which offers a glimpse of what the drug addiction epidemic has caused Yet plentiful supply does not mean that what is on offer isn’t dangerously unpredictable. Kensington Avenue on Friday, November 23, 2018. All of those pressures, plus economic shock and deprivation, may push more people — including those who have not experienced addiction before — to use drugs problematically, Beletsky said. Kensington Avenue's ghoulish world of addiction and prostitution exists outside the law. Pennsylvania’s overdose crisis is shifting, new DEA report finds. PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- More than a dozen people have been arrested in an operation targeting the drug trade in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. A shortage in heroin, for example, can prompt dealers to turn to cheaper — but deadlier — synthetic alternatives like fentanyl. While fentanyl already had largely overtaken Philadelphia’s drug market, markets on the West Coast, which are not as accustomed to its lethal effects, could see more fentanyl sales as a result of the pandemic. 3 Like a lot of the country, a big part of this issue is a result of the opioid epidemic. A part of the Banyan team since 2016, Alyssa brings over 5 years of experience in the addiction treatment field. Addiction battle unabated in Kensington during virus lockdown. PHILADELPHIA – A 44-count Second Superseding Indictment, unsealed today, charges nine people with conspiring to distribute phencyclidine (“PCP”) and cocaine base (“crack”) in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, announced United States Attorney William M. McSwain. After overcoming her own struggles with addiction, she began working in the treatment field in 2012. “We did hear internationally that overseas there were some supply-chain disruptions for precursor chemicals for drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine, but as far as Philadelphia proper, we haven’t noticed significant disruptions in supply or price,” said Patrick Trainor, a spokesperson for the local branch of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. How heroin and fentanyl get into Philadelphia — and why a border wall likely wouldn’t stop them, Pennsylvania will get nearly $26 million from McKinsey opioid settlement, Biden kills Trump administration plan on opioid-treatment prescriptions hailed by physicians, Thousands of drug, alcohol recovery homes in Pa. still operate without state oversight, As overdoses rise, Philly health officials warn about ‘pressed pills’ — fake painkillers laced with fentanyl, As overdoses soar in Philly and elsewhere, feds make it easier for doctors to prescribe addiction medication, As drug overdoses rise with the pandemic, two studies show addiction medication can save lives, California residents do not sell my data request. Philadelphia has recently taken more aggressive action to break the cycle in Kensington, accepting the new reality of America's opioid epidemic as a public health crisis. PHILADELPHIA -- More than a dozen people have been arrested in an operation targeting the drug trade in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. And because drug markets are unregulated and difficult to monitor outside of hard-to-access law enforcement channels, it’s tough for researchers to glean a full picture of the effects of the pandemic, Beletsky said. Over the last few years, Philadelphia’s drug supply has been contaminated with fentanyl and other adulterants. All Rights Reserved. Opioids in pill form run about $36 in Kensington, versus $5 for a bag of heroin. Corporate Headquarters: Mazzella said she was concerned that contamination had only accelerated during the pandemic. Far from a silver lining, such a disruption could push prices up, leading to lacings in drugs that can cause dangerous side effects in desperate, unsuspecting users — including death. The intersection of Kensington Avenue and Somerset Street was listed number one in a 2007 list of the city's top ten recreational drug corners according to an article by Philadelphia Weekly reporter Steve Volk. Alleged North Philly Drug Kingpin Convicted An alleged North Philadelphia drug kingpin was convicted on Monday along with his wife. Several people gathered near McPherson Square Park said there do appear to be more people using drugs on the street. After shortages early in the pandemic, Philadelphia’s drug supply appears to have stabilized, said advocates for those in addiction and law enforcement officials alike. The United Nations noted in a May report that there were opioid shortages around the world, including in North America, and cautioned that the resulting price hikes and losses in purity could lead to riskier drug use. Because of the high number of drugs in Kensington, the neighborhood has a drug crime rate of 3.57, the third-highest rate by neighborhood in Philadelphia. Schoolchildren often have encountered dealers, needles, and people injecting heroin on their way to school, so one of the most popular improvements has been “safe corridors.” These neighborhood volunteers help children get to school safely. The sun shines.”. “As supply chains get disrupted, there’s going to be more unpredictability, more synthetics, more violence, because that’s what happens when drug markets get disrupted,” he said. The elevated Market-Frankford Line on North Front Street in Kensington. Despite all the work that’s been done in Kensington, open-air drug use and dealing continue, and smaller encampments remain on Kensington Avenue. Ed Ou / NBC News The vast majority were caused by opioids. The synthetic opioid is both cheaper to produce and much stronger than heroin. We can help! |, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OeatsmYbgk, Jamie Lee Curtis Reflects On 22 Years of Sobriety, RHOC’s Braunwyn Windham-Burke Celebrates One Year of Sobriety, Philadelphia Department of Public Health -. In a down economy, it’s an easy decision. She waited Friday near Kensington and Allegheny Avenues, at the heart of the city’s opioid market, while a friend prepared to inject a dose of heroin. But for photographer Jérôme Sessini, the story is not just about the drugs; it is about understanding the context behind the crisis. At the onset of the pandemic, advocates in Philadelphia had braced for changes in the drug supply, said Silvana Mazzella, the associate executive director of Prevention Point, the public health organization based in Kensington. Some treatment programs refused to take new clients or otherwise cut back on services as money grew tighter, staffers feared contagion, and some contracted the virus. Yet for one pocket of commerce in Philadelphia, supplies appear as plentiful as ever. “Overdoses are spiking in a bunch of places, and we don’t even know how much it’s spiking,” Beletsky said. Philadelphia's Kensington Avenue: Heroin, Prostitution, and No Police . “It would indicate that the current drug supply, before the pandemic, was, quite frankly, pretty plentiful.”. like to join our Newsletter? © 2020 Banyan Treatment Centers. Drug and alcohol addiction is a nationwide epidemic, please reach out if you or a loved one is suffering. But there's one place that looks the exact same, and that's Kensington. She said the coronavirus pandemic does not appear to have reduced drug supply in the area, where open opioid use is common. Business closures and the economic downturn related to the pandemic make life harder in Kensington, like everywhere else — though many here were living hand to mouth long before March. “All those issues are very much on display right now.”, © 2021 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC Terms of Use/Privacy Policy/California Notice California residents do not sell my data request. Since moving last year to South Philadelphia—a neighborhood second only to Kensington in Philly overdose fatalities—I regularly met John outside the subway stop or the local bodega where he panhandled. Eighty-eight percent of the more than 1,200 drug overdoses involved opioids that year, according to city data, and about 900 people slept on the streets that summer. On the street in Kensington, some people said the quality of drugs has diminished since the lockdown, though it was unclear whether the pandemic was driving that. Two men nodded in a drug-addled stupor on a sidewalk on Kensington Avenue. “The more constraints there are on the market, the more it’s going to mutate toward synthetic, cheaper, lab-produced drugs, where a few people can produce a lot of product.”. These issues hit the Kensington … Alyssa is Banyan’s Director of Digital Marketing & Technology. The neighborhood of Kensington has made a name for itself because of its high rate of crime, poverty, and drugs. Health systems that would, in normal times, be able to sound alarms about overdose spikes may be overwhelmed with responding to the pandemic instead. But even if the drug supply in Philadelphia is stable, the drugs themselves remain unpredictable. Pompano Beach, FL 33062. Rosalind Pichardo, right, hands out food, socks, clean syringes and Narcan to drug users in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia on March 3. Get the latest bi-weekly Banyan news and event updates direct to your inbox! In this, the second chapter of a series documenting America’s opioid crisis, we follow Sessini as he travels to the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, part of which is known locally as the ‘Badlands’. For overdose and related medical emergencies please dial 911. The Philadelphia Badlands is a section of North Philadelphia and Lower Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, that is known for an abundance of open-air recreational drug markets and drug-related violence. In 2017, more than 1,200 people died of drug overdoses in Philadelphia. What does that mean during social distancing? “The blocks [where drug dealing takes place] never closed,” said Christine Russo, 38, who’s been using heroin for seven years. A recent story published in The New York Times Magazine goes inside Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood, which has one of the highest rates of heroin overdose in the nation. Although the city has a rich history, not every part of Philly has the best reputation. Earlier this year, as countries closed borders and restricted travel in efforts to contain the pandemic, some officials predicted major disruptions in the global supply chains of illicit drugs. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY) After an eight-month investigation, federal, state and local officials say they’ve busted three drug trafficking organizations based in Kensington and seized nearly half a … She graduated from Palm Beach State College in 2016 with additional education in Salesforce University programs. Heroin cut with fentanyl can be deadly to an inexperienced opioid user, and other cutting agents used in Kensington, like the animal tranquilizer xylazine, can produce dangerous side effects in people who aren’t expecting them.
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