At Philadelphia’s open-air drug market, you can see people passing out on the pavement or injecting themselves
DRUG CRISIS IN KENSINGTON:- Several drug users lay unconscious along the sidewalks of Kensington Avenue on a cloudy afternoon in August. Others walk erratically through oncoming traffic at an outdoor drug market that has hit a neighborhood in Philadelphia known as the City of Brotherly Love.
Kensington is known worldwide for its rampant public drug abuse. According to data from the city, the area became a hotbed for Xylazine — a veterinary tranquilizer commonly referred to as a zombie drug or Trank — found in more than 90% of drug samples examined in Philadelphia in 2021.
In Kensington’s open-air drug market, people lay unconscious on the pavement, displaying bruises or oozing wounds caused by Xylazine, fresh blood dripping into their arms from needle injections. Many users were seen wandering around in a daze on the busy road.
One individual caught in drug use, Gene, shared with US Newzs that he had recently been released from the hospital after unintentionally consuming Xylazine. His legs were wrapped in bandages, concealing several flesh-eating sores infested with maggots.
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The horrific injuries resulting from the use of tranq can lead to severe infections, including necrosis, and in some cases, may necessitate amputation, as outlined by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Users of the drug can enter a trance-like state or remain unconscious for prolonged periods, as recounted by individuals who have used tranq to US Newzs.
Another user, Duffy, displayed a large wound on his arm from injecting tranq. Having grown up in Kensington, he expressed that he had never witnessed the effects of drugs as extreme as those caused by xylazine.
“It’s the most severe I’ve ever seen the situation,” he remarked.
Xylazine has infiltrated the nation’s illicit drug supply, with many addicts unaware that they are injecting a compound containing trank. And because xylazine is not an opioid, standard overdose reversal medications are ineffective.
Magee, a 30-year-old drug user living on the streets of Kensington, previously told US Newzs that “when it’s normal heroin,” it’s very good for users who destroy the area. She said many of her friends have died of overdoses in recent years as drugs have become more lethal.
“I lost a lot of good friends,” she said. “People are dying all around.”
Before xylazine flooded Kensington, the neighborhood was already struggling to get a handle on the ongoing fentanyl epidemic. Before that, heroin plagued a drug-addled society.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 200,000 Americans have died of an overdose of synthetic opioids like fentanyl since 2020. In Pennsylvania, one user died of a drug overdose every two hours in 2022, with nearly 80% of those deaths involving fentanyl, state data found.
“I witness the grip of drug addiction. I observe the illicit drug trade. I witness the violence. I witness the poverty,” remarked Frank Rodriguez, a former heroin addict who has transformed into a local activist, in a previous statement to Fox News regarding Kensington. “Above all, I witness immense pain.”