HELL ON EARTH

Kensington has been a haven for drug addicts free to inject heroin for many years. But the prevalence of powerful drugs like fentanyl and tranquilizers has further reduced the neighborhood to a death bed and crime hotspot, current and former residents told Fox News. Pennsylvania is among the 10 states with the highest rates of drug overdose deaths in 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The statewide drug overdose death rate hit a record high with 5,449 deaths, an increase of nearly 25% since 2019. Philadelphia, in particular, has nearly 1,300 accidental overdose deaths in 2021, more than 80 percent of which involved opioids like fentanyl or heroin, according to city data.
Between 2012 and 2016, the neighborhood’s violent crime rate was more than 30 percent higher than the rest of the city, according to a study by Drexel University. More recently, Kensington had one of the highest rates of violent and drug crime in the city last month, according to data compiled by The Philadelphia Inquirer.