The Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia has become the symbol of the largest drug epidemic in US history. There, more and more addicts have started using fentanyl mixed with the drug Xylazine. The result is the so-called “zombie drug”.
Caused increase in abuse
The Danish TV channel TV2 has been on site in Kensington. They have been warned about the security situation in the district in advance and are asked to watch where they step. In their films it is explained by the used syringes covering the streets.
But the area has also become a place where laws and regulations do not apply – and the number of assault crimes has risen explosively in recent years, according to the channel. Their guide warns them against filming in the streets. Therefore, the material is filmed with mobile phones.
The effects of the strong drug are clearly visible. People are lying knocked out, standing hanging – seemingly completely uncontactable. Like zombies.
– The injuries we see on these people are really serious. To the point that people are really not that far from having to amputate. We see people in wheelchairs, with missing limbs. People are lying on the street in their own feces, says William Rodriguez, director of a clinic in Kensington.
“Going to be a zombie like everyone else”
TV2 talks to a woman who went to a park in the area. She has a bag with around 50 needles with her. She will use some herself – the rest she will sell on. The demand for new sterilized needles is significantly greater than the supply.
– In a little while, when I feel sick from the crack I just smoked, I’ll take some fentanyl to numb it. And then I become a zombie like everyone else you see here in the park, she says.
The woman shows off some of the contents of her bag:
– This is death in a bag.
“Already dead”
The woman tells the TV channel that she had several seizures after an overdose. Death is something she constantly fears – and points to a corner where she saw a person die a week ago.
The TV channel also talks to Amir. He is homeless and says that he used to be afraid of death. He is no longer.
– I’m already dead, he says.
– It is one of the most tragic things, we see it all the time. People who have overdosed and need to be taken to hospital. We actually don’t know how those who are lying here on the sidewalks are doing.
Fentanyl-linked deaths are at record highs in the US. President Joe Biden has declared fentanyl a “serious and new threat” to the country. It is the first time ever that the White House singles out a subject as a definite threat.