Addiction Activists Say They’re ‘Reducing Harm’ in Philly. Locals Say They’re Causing It.
Kensington Avenue in Philadelphia, seen here on March 21, 2024, is notorious for the open-air use of hard drugs including fentanyl and xylazine, known on the street as tranq. (All photos by Ashley Gilbertson for The Free Press)
Addicts have turned a minority neighborhood into an open-air drug market. Residents blame the mostly white advocates for ‘destroying’ their community.
For three years, Sonja Bingham, a 55-year-old mother of three, started every day the same way: with a broom. At dawn, she would come out to sweep away the damage from the previous night—the syringes, the fentanyl baggies, the cigarette butts, and the half-eaten sandwiches. And sometimes as she swept, she couldn’t help but think that the city of Philadel…
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