Tensions Rise in Kensington, Philadelphia as Lockdown Bites

[Chip (OP)]

source: https://filtermag.org/kensington-philadelphia-drugs-lockdown/

Tensions Rise in Kensington, Philadelphia as Lockdown Bites

The intro ...

APRIL 14, 2020



Like much of the nation, Philadelphia has come to a virtual standstill. At publication time, Philadelphia County had almost 6,400 confirmed coronavirus infections and 176 reported deaths. In a city with a pre-existing poverty rate of 24.5 percent, the economic damage of the lockdown is palpable. Businesses that were Philly fixtures for decades are now boarded up—some may never open again.

It has been distressing to witness the additional strife within the community I cover, the most vulnerable of Philadelphia’s populations of people who use drugs.

Despite widespread fears of a drought, trade in illicit drugs in the Kensington neighborhood has so far continued at a steady pace. “You look around the city and it’s like there’s nobody out,” a corner dealer told me. “But not Kensington.”

“Look around you,” he said, gesturing to the crowded street corners. “If you out here, you either buyin’ drugs or you sellin’ them.”

For a reporter who has been on this beat for years, one odd impact of the pandemic has been the instant clarification of who’s buying and who’s selling: The former are usually wearing medical masks, the latter usually not.

But amid the brisk business, tenuous supply lines seem to have led to a significant decline in the potency of many of the drugs available. Heroin users, for example, rate the drug on its “rush”—the initial impact of the drug—and its “legs,” or length of time before withdrawal sets in. Sources report a decline in both.

In one way, it’s a good thing: Fatal overdoses in the city have declined from an average in the region of three or four per day to something more like three or four per week, according to daily tallies released by police, EMTs and Prevention Point Philadelphia, a needle exchange program.

But the decline in potency hasn’t come without consequences. Illicit markets work best—in terms of both product safety and violence reduction—when they are free to operate organically. Under the pressure of uncertainty, fear or desperation, the cracks in Kensington’s already-troubled community are showing.

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[MoeMentim]

i wonder what denver's street scene is like under the quarantine.  10 1/2 months clean but mentally i'm never too far away from the 'ol habits.  you know how it goes