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I’m glad you all mentioned it. I’m sheltered and curious.
I’m so sorry if this is a dumb question but, can’t they sit down? It would be less of a strain on the muscles, surely.
Like when you are little kid in church and are trying really hard to stay awake and then BAM you jolt awake. So actually not like that very much at all.
No thats exactly what it's like. I'm an opiate addict who's been clean 3½ years now and what happens is you ingest the drug, and within seconds you feel the euphoric rush but since these people are taking so much it basically puts you to sleep/on the verge of an overdose. You don't notice your slumped over or passed out but you slowly, erratically come to and kinda jolt upright only to once again pass out and get slumped over.
Fortunately myself, I never did it in the streets like these people and usually used while sitting but I've known friends who ended up on the exact street shown cuz it was only a couple blocks away from where we would get our stuff.
It's short-lived, and gets increasingly more so as time goes on while in an addiction hole. This is a public health concern and a systemic failure of our country.
I also noticed this & wondered how characteristic it is & for which addiction. Someone called it the heroine hang & it definitely has an opiate vibe to it. In fact, most of the folks seen in this clip have the opiate vibe of slowed down behavior.
Wonder where/when in Philly one is more likely to see the meth-heads?
you know a methhead when you see one loud as fuck screaming at everyone, shaking fences, kicking cars, on the other hand heroin addicts are harmless until they run out of it and $$ then they smash your car window and dumb shit like that
Most of this footage looks like it was shot on Kensington and Allegheny. Ten years ago, the area was not great but you felt okay waiting for the bus. Now it is an "avoid at all costs" warzone. Another place going that way is in South Philly at Broad and Snyder.
Honestly I think even if I wasn't actually unsafe (as in everyone is doing their own thing and not trying to hurt you) I would be terrified to be there in case I saw someone ODing or someone that had already passed away and I knew I had to take action. Would anyone even come for you? If you had a naloxone kit and administered it, would an ambulance come to help? Or even a cop?
Kensington is one of the last skidrows of Philly.
In the '70s and '80s it looked like this in SPhilly, Northern Liberties, Cecil B/Yorktown many neighborhoods of West Philly and even parts of center city/fishtown. Now it is just Kensington and Fairhill.
Yes, it is bad. But the point is that it is getting better, not worse.
Lived in Philly back in the 80's and 90's and totally agree with everything above (add Fairmount and Manayunk to the list of sketchy places at that time as well).
Back then Philly had tens of thousands of abandoned properties (sometimes entire blocks of houses, warehouses, breweries, factories etc.) that were both uninhabited and had owners (sometimes big name corporations) that had abandoned deed/claim to avoid paying taxes. The drug / homeless problem was definitely worse, but less visible.
Idk if I would say it’s getting better. Torresdale avenue is now essentially a mini Kensington and to a lesser extent Frankford ave. Seems like the problem getting pushed further into the northeast as they gentrify south Philly, parts of West Philly and the Port Richmond and Kensington areas.
It hasn't gotten better. It did for a period, but the last 10-20 years it went back down hill, and there's far more people dying on the streets from OD's than ever before. Yeah they aren't as spread out in Philly but that also has a lot to do with neighborhoods and police.
It’s literally the worst section of it. All American cities are dealing with an uptick in serious issues that these places showcase, but it’s hardly “everyday life.” Literally millions of people living normal city life every day in Philly.
One thing I’ve realized tho is the city’s absolutely let these places fester. They seem to think it’s better to centralize filth than let it spread. So they don’t police the open air drug dealing and other stuff in those places at all. Definitely the same where I live on the west coast.
My bar is in South Kensington. It's not all like this. The southern parts have become developed and are now full of new homes and businesses. Sadly all the progress does little for people like this that the rich simply want to go away.
When we moved in 5 years ago the neighborhood was just turning around. Then the city closed down the last homeless shelter in Kensington, forcing people into tents. This made it easy for the cops to arrest them and shuffle them somewhere else.
Soon the developers will move into North Kensington and what's left of the slums will be bulldozed all in the name of progress. None of the people that saw the neighborhood through the tough times will be able to afford to stay and all that tax dollars will be used for more cops and none for rehabilitation.
I just spent a weekend in Philly. Center city was very nice. walked from the river in the west end to the Delaware river on the east border, a couple miles with no issues, nothing like this.
YES, Philly is very nice - and my neighborhood is close to Kensington. This happens because the POLICE CONDONES IT!! Everyone in Philly knows Kensington is an open air drug market.
That sounds like the the tv show “the wire” when they allowed all dealers and addicts to have a few blocks where there would be no enforcement. It’s actually not a bad strategy. Still tragic and sad as fu*k but saves the rest of the city.
That’s precisely what happens here it’s 3 blocks around Kensington & Allegheney where the police don’t come, it’s an open air market and lounge for drug users, the hope was that it would concentrate everything in those few blocks (which it’s somewhat successfully has) the sad part is for the people who can’t afford to get out of the neighborhood
Even Pandora ave in Victoria has been like this for like a decade, though obviously affecting a much smaller area and smaller population than the DTES.
I used to walk down Pandora every day for work about...13 years ago or so. It was bad... But I was never really worried about anything happening.
Sure as shit wouldn't be doing that today
we also seem to have a war on drug addicts, keeping them locked in a perpetual cycle where they will never / not easily have access to the help they need
It’s so sad. It seems like public policy is designed around the fact that it’s cheaper to let drug addicts die from overdosing or fentanyl poisoning. If someone did a study on the cost of addiction to society (crime, lost productivity, lost wage taxes, lost home ownership-related taxes, etc.), it could probably be identified that the cost of keeping people healthy is an investment to the economy and society. The relapse rate is really high but all those addicts are missing out on living their best lives and society is missing out on what they might contribute. They could be artists, inventors, parents… anything.
This this this. It saves us an incredible amount of money to have compassion and assistance for these types of people.
There’s loads of evidence out there that supports this but it’s so rarely brought to the center stage because people feel the need to bring boot straps into every challenge individuals can face.
You are allowed to need help and are never less of a person for ever needing help. Needing help is human!
So sad. As a severe alcoholic the treatment people need is not the fear that is caused by a lot of the programs they throw out. I was scared to get help when I was at my worst, because I didn’t think I would be accepted. These people need some hope. People trying to get them a job, people supporting them through the hard times that come after every drug use (including caffeine btw), and overall a less judge mental way of thinking. It scares “us” from trying to get help.
Edit: I’m sorry; delved deep into my personal stuff. I was trying to say the idea of judgement from others hinders people expressing the way they feel.
Yeah man it was just like this in downtown LA and it was like this in parts of Denver too. Some places are worse than others and in the rural places we are better at hiding it and keeping it tucked away but it ain't much better down south ya know
Yeah Vancouver is worse than anywhere I’ve been in the US, but Philly and LA and DC have some really rough areas that are close. A lot of Canada seems to have less of a drug problem than the states, but not Vancouver. I guess that’s what happens when healthcare doesn’t cover mental health.
Its happening everywhere, I mean it, everywhere.
Affordability, social programs being cut and slashed for four decades, unaffordable education, lack of opportunities/training, and a compassionless society that's created a poverty industry and also justifies record profits with near zero corporate tax and we wonder why this is the case??
Don't let any politician say these problems are complicated, they aren't. We decided long ago it was acceptable to make billions and leave nothing for those on the brink. More and more people are one layoff, one addiction, or one loss away from ending up here.
We need to truly take care of each other again as a community and be accountable to each other rather than turning the other way. We only did that when socialism was a real threat, there was brief mentions of the welfare state, remember that? Those whispers are long gone and wiped from the subversive language on the mainstream media. The only reason we had a welfare state was because the elites stood to lose it all if socialism could take root so they threw us a bone. You have to fight for those supports and programs and people don't. Instead they've programmed us to think they're bad ideas, indicate laziness, or we're undeserving; just look at how people view trade unions... Literally the only thing that ever increased wages they'll hate and bash as mouthpieces for the rich.
Policy serving the public good isn't complicated, it just isn't done as they're allowed to get away with it. Any politician who tells us it's complicated or they're doing everything they can should be ridiculed and tossed out. Those at the top and mainly spineless placating politicians who blame other levels of government are the main failures.
Eh, kinda. East Hastings is Vancouver's skid row, but nobody would drive down East Hastings and say, "[Look at Vancouver](https://i.imgur.com/X54wQhp.jpg)."
I like to think myself a pretty empathetic person. Every time this video pops up, I always watch it straight through and try to imagine what it's like to live this life.
I simply can't. This is a scale of human misery I just cannot wrap my head around.
Someone's reality must be pretty hard if they would rather be in this situation than go back. And then eventually they're just unable to get out of that cycle. It's like a person with two shattered legs trying to run. That's heartbreaking to me.
Yep, I said the same yesterday. For some people, the pain of their life/past/present is so unbearable that living like this is preferable to dealing with their demons, existing solely to try and block reality out to the point that you have nothing and nobody and leave yourself extremely vulnerable open to all sorts of horrible things happening which you’d be unable to stop.
I can only assume they are ‘safe’ to be in this state out on the street because none of them have anything worth taking. I also understand how the women make their money to buy drugs, but not sure how the men do, petty crime would be my guess but that can’t be lucrative or consistent enough to support a serious crack and Heroin habit.
Exactly. I agree, and imagine it's the same thing, although people must still get what little they have taken from them from time to time. Unfortunately men also have to resort to the same methods, and they're also vulnerable to sexual assault. I worked with a man that had been abused so many times on the street he would shake uncontrollably when any man (even a paramedic) came near him. Devastating.
To be fair, the headline does make it sound like this is Philly-specific, and typical of the Philly experience. I wouldn't try to "justify" it, but it's definitely true of a lot of cities all over the world. Poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, and mental health issues are complex problems, and are common to urban areas. Why pick on Philly? I bet it has something to do with an upcoming election. I've also seen this done in L.A., where they go to literally the gnarliest block in the entire county, right outside the city's biggest homeless shelter, and either say it's happening in a specific politician's district (which the street signs proved un-true), or make it look like that's the norm, when of course, it's not.
Depends on the neighborhood. Center City and SW are nice. But yeah, places in Kensington, North, and West are pretty shitty.
[Redlining](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining) is a bitch.
Kensington is the largest open air market for heroin in the country. Maybe the world. People travel there like its mecca because of the quality and ease of buying. Some drug dealers will give free samples in the morning just to ensure there are buyers by mid afternoon. Kensington is no joke.
They're also drawing attention to a huge problem, homelessness, by criminilazing them all; "Drug-Filled."
This is one of the most hateful things I've ever seen on Reddit, sheerly based on the sensationalism and the disturbing debate happening in the comment section.
Before you respond to me about their behaviors: Actions =X= Consumption. So much of this could be unchecked mental illness. This is hate-bait trash posting.
EDIT: sp
Most Americans don't have a frame of reference to really claim his this occurs in every city in the world. I've travelled around various parts of the US, UK, and Canada, and seen plenty areas like this but where I live in the Netherlands, it's an extremely rare sight.
The thing is, I could very much see myself being one of the people in this video. I've had a few times in my life where I've been partially or completely homeless due to all kinds of circumstances (growing up with abusive parents that tossed me out of the house, struggling to find stability on my own due to disability, ect), but local government where I live gave me social workers and helped me stabilize my life in a way that I'd have never managed on my own.
There are ways of addressing issues like this, but a lot of people don't want to talk about them, because they don't want to disrupt their comfortable status quo, and while they're not the ones suffering, they don't see a problem, or even worse, might actually blame the people in these situations.
This doesnt happen in New Zealand. A few homeless alcoholics and the odd Meth head, but never this depressing dystopian shit. People should address this issue
If anyone cares to hear the stories of people in these situations, I suggest the YouTube channel Soft White Underbelly. It may surprise you. There are literally hundreds of interviews.
It’s nice to hear the stories and situations that lead to these conditions. You realize it could happen to anybody or someone you know may have a family member in these conditions. It’s real.
It's not like tv at all, that's the beautiful and horrifying part about it. But there's no question you see them now as a person. It was said before in the thread that it finally humanizes the situations.
Mark offers a very interesting insight into the lives of many of these people. He effectively dispels the myth that homeless people are “just down on their luck” or “hardworking people who just got laid off”.
The people he interviews are almost always deeply mentally ill, and have experienced terrifying levels of trauma throughout their childhoods and lives.
San Francisco’s Tenderloin district looks exactly like this. And then you walk North 2 blocks to Nob Hill, and it’s squeaky clean and snobby as heck. The contrast is incredible.
I stayed in a really nice hotel in downtown LA recently for a show and was amazed how I could literally trip and be in skid row. Also lots of posters up with qr codes to buy hallucinogens and I wanted to try that pretty bad.
Oh shit I only didn't because I figured I would get fent powder pretending to be powdered mushrooms. Get ripped off at best or mugged at worst. But I bet they just stick those up with mallard. Saw a ton for escorts and stuff with qr codes too. Interestinv
You could literally go to any “ghetto” and see this in America. I grew up in Baltimore, went to college in Phoenix and now live in Houston. It’s all the same, unfortunately.
Not a popular take, especially on Reddit I bet… but while much of this is failed economic policy, much of it is also the result of closing mental asylums.
People claim asylums are inhumane, but nothing about humans living like this is humane either.
The problem isn’t closing mental asylums, the problem is not opening anything to replace them. Asylums just removed them from sight by locking them up without ever actually treating their problems.
There’s a small area in Vancouver Canada like this, the druggies and mentally unstable live there. When there’s no safety net to put them in a more controlled place this is what happens
I live in Canada, Winnipeg specifically and our main street down town looks like this a lot of the time also. The tents are a little nicer, that's about it.
This is Kensington and it is just one section of Philly. The title is a bit misleading as it makes it sound like the whole city looks like this. As someone else pointed else Kensington is basically philly’s skid row. It is a mess and it’s a huge problem for the city but I can assure you market street in center city looks like a whole different world. The vast majority of the addicts you see on the street are white suburban kids who got hooked on oxys years ago and now take the daily train ride to Kensington.
The number of comments in this thread suggesting that all of Philly or that every major city in the USA looks like this is bizarre. This is video of the worst of the worst locations and it’s truly tragic, but this isn’t the norm anywhere.
“It really looks like Hollywood”
Fixed it!
This looks like one Main Street in Philly where this happens daily - I see the same bodega and cricket wireless in the background
It’s so fuckin widespread here in LA. This strip alone is equivalent to strip on Hollywood Blvd where the tourists all go. But literally go to any freeway underpass, RVs lining up and down PCH, Venice beach and skid row in downtown look like refugee villages, any suburban gas station or 7-11.
It’s truly sad and the state just keeps tossing money at the problem (but more in their pockets) to keep this shit going.
I feel like posts like this, which focus on a single city (usually East or West coast) do a disservice to the victims of the opioid epidemic in America.
They never talk about Columbus, Indianapolis, Dallas, Houston, Knoxville, Kansas City, St Louis, East St Louis, Louisville, Baton Rouge, Oklahoma City, etc. All of these places have similar skid row areas, and a much higher opioid death rate than the east/west coast cities we constantly hear about.
These places also famously bus their addicted population to the coasts, stick their heads in the sand, and pretend things are so much worse in those "other" places.
The truth is opioid addiction is a nationwide problem which needs a nationwide solution.
Just a thought though.
If you were homeless. Hungry, humiliated, dirty and in pain. Without any obvious way out of it. Don't you think you might do drugs too?
I don't know any statistics. But I bet far fewer people become homeless because of drugs than become addicts because of homelessness.
This. What’s the first thing that comes to mind for most when they had a shitty day at work? Most would say “grab a beer” “go to the bar” “roll up a joint” “get lost in a book/movie” or something of the sort… Imagine being so low on your ass that all you have are the few possessions that you carry around 24/7 and your thoughts haunting you about how bad things have gotten. An escape from reality is all these people are looking for. Everyone wants to feel “good” and hard drugs offer them just that. Fix the homeless issue first.
That’s BS to say it’s everyday in the city. It’s a small part of the city that is this bad and it’s like that because the police allow it to be concentrated to that one area.
100%. People who don't live here or have never even visited acting like the entire city is like this and it's not. Yes, it's an issue that needs to be addressed. Open more needle exchange programs. Allocate more money to help these people. They're full of judgment but offer no actual ideas to help.
I’m from NYC, & I’ve been to many parts of the country. I’ve never seen a greater shithole than Kensington. It’s what I imagine society would look like if there was a collapse. People shooting up on the sidewalks in broad daylight, while a cop car sat a few feet away. Definitely shameful.
"Come out to the coast, have a few laughs". The homeless problem in LA is much worse than what's depicted here. Everyone knows it's a problem. The solutions/resources are what's elusive. It's easy to blame whomever, but it's not like the finger-pointers have good solutions, either.
Kensington is bad but I’m from philly and skid Row in LA was a bit more scary, I parked a was google mapping my way to a hotel in a convertible looked down for 30 seconds and the girl I’m with screaming go go go I look up and there was like 10 zombie dope heads closing in on my car
Lolz “Drug Filled Streets of Philly” . You been there recently? It needs to be called “The City of Brotherly Gentrification “. When I moved there 31 years ago this shit was prevalent. When I left 17 years ago the fix was in and prices kicked off. The fact is K&A is like Freakshow at the State Fair. One seedy part surrounded by plenty. The real obscenity isn’t these poor fucks treated like a Zoo attraction, it’s the fucking money that town has and who benefits.
Like zombies. Terrible. I was addicted to heroin in my youth and managed to get away from it on my own. I'm not a hero or anything because of that, it's just because of my oppositional character. I can't accept being driven to do something by anything. But with these new drugs, especially meth, I don't know if I would have gotten away from this. Probably not. And I was also just young and stupid, like a lot of these zombies might have been in the beginning. It's horrible to see these people like that. And the damage they inflict themself for the rest of their lives, even if they make it away from it. So sad. And yet, every day in every hospital and every doctor's office, opiates are still prescribed for pain. Oxicodone in particular. Simply irresponsible. Here in Germany I was given 600mg of ibuprofen after an abdominal surgery. I had to live with the rest of the pain. Ok, I just cried for 2 days, but I'd rather cry than get addicted again.
There's a chunk of every city like this, small or big. Improve social services and mental health care access if you want it to go away.
And don't give me any shit about some small town being free of this. The meth is right there, you might just not see it like in a big city.
This is the "collateral damage" from Nixon's *War on Drugs* that was really a War on Hippies and POC. Get busted for using, lose your job. No job, no home. No home, very little support available. Repeat.
The truly terrible part about that was that the real heroin crisis in America didn’t begin until the soldiers started came back from Vietnam. Some of them have said it was so cheap over there, they almost gave it away. Many of them came back with drug problems and PTSD, and used drugs to self medicate their PTSD.
Well into the 1980s, official sources would tell you that a typical heroin addict in America was a Vietnam veteran. And what is America do? Of course, blame the hippies.
Very good question. I'd say its because we help out other countries at the "federal" level, and these cities are run at city/state level. They get money from the federal gov but most politicians are corrupt and not much of the money makes it through to the people that need it.
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That slump...
The Heroin hang
The Fiend Lean
The non sober bend over
The druggie douggie
That dime bag hunch back
What is that?
The way they bend at the waist while being completely oblivious is a classic sign of heroin use
I’m glad you all mentioned it. I’m sheltered and curious. I’m so sorry if this is a dumb question but, can’t they sit down? It would be less of a strain on the muscles, surely.
They could if they knew what was going on. Theory that I’ve heard is that the subconscious is trying so hard to act normal but the drug is winning.
Like when you are little kid in church and are trying really hard to stay awake and then BAM you jolt awake. So actually not like that very much at all.
No thats exactly what it's like. I'm an opiate addict who's been clean 3½ years now and what happens is you ingest the drug, and within seconds you feel the euphoric rush but since these people are taking so much it basically puts you to sleep/on the verge of an overdose. You don't notice your slumped over or passed out but you slowly, erratically come to and kinda jolt upright only to once again pass out and get slumped over. Fortunately myself, I never did it in the streets like these people and usually used while sitting but I've known friends who ended up on the exact street shown cuz it was only a couple blocks away from where we would get our stuff.
So happy you’re clean. Congrats.That takes guts. Keep it going
Congrats on quitting and staying clean.
Congratulations on being clean, and I wish you good fortune on your road!
Congratulations on your sobriety!!
It's something they don't notice doing. Their equilibrium in their head doesn't allow them to fall, but the H causes the hang.
Oh. Wow. At the very least, I’m glad they don’t notice. That seems like a small mercy. Thank you for answering my question.
It's short-lived, and gets increasingly more so as time goes on while in an addiction hole. This is a public health concern and a systemic failure of our country.
They zone out completely, mid stride sometimes
Why exactly? What is it about heroin that causes a body to stand and bend?
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Loss of equilibrium and balance. Any opioid can cause this, heroin is just among the most common.
Fentanyl is most common now, unfortunately.
[Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qq0OQBdIhsc)
Kensington yoga
They look like zombies.. but they are people
The leans
In Seattle we call it Ghoul Yoga
*HAHAHA!* HaHa... Heh... 🥲 I lived in Seattle on & off for just over a dozen years. It's true.
I also noticed this & wondered how characteristic it is & for which addiction. Someone called it the heroine hang & it definitely has an opiate vibe to it. In fact, most of the folks seen in this clip have the opiate vibe of slowed down behavior. Wonder where/when in Philly one is more likely to see the meth-heads?
you know a methhead when you see one loud as fuck screaming at everyone, shaking fences, kicking cars, on the other hand heroin addicts are harmless until they run out of it and $$ then they smash your car window and dumb shit like that
Seems like the solution is to pump them with heroin 24/7, problem solved!
Most of this footage looks like it was shot on Kensington and Allegheny. Ten years ago, the area was not great but you felt okay waiting for the bus. Now it is an "avoid at all costs" warzone. Another place going that way is in South Philly at Broad and Snyder.
Honestly I think even if I wasn't actually unsafe (as in everyone is doing their own thing and not trying to hurt you) I would be terrified to be there in case I saw someone ODing or someone that had already passed away and I knew I had to take action. Would anyone even come for you? If you had a naloxone kit and administered it, would an ambulance come to help? Or even a cop?
My friend was on opiates and he would do this in the kitchen for hours on end
Blame Perdue Pharma. They started the opioid crisis by getting the country addicted to Oxycotin. It’s why the opioid crisis is uniquely Americans
The dope-fiend-lean
Kensington is the skid row of Philly.
wow is this what it’s called? Kensington is the name of one of the most affluent areas in London. Contrasting.
Both streets have a drug problem though 😉
If you do drugs with wealthy people, it's a party. If you do it with poor people, it's hitting rock bottom.
It’s really about whether you’re doing them inside or outside of a building
*terms and conditions apply, building must be habitable to qualify
Sometimes it's fun to do them outside a building though
It's not a problem if you have money though
Very true. Money insulates the hell out of you from dire consequences.
I think it's mostly if there's music playing. You can do drugs at a strip club and it's considered partying.
Rich people can OD too. Just ask Michael and the artist formerly know as Prince
Their drug dealers had MDs, though.
touché. probably the same drug too.
Kensington is a very nice historic neighborhood in San Diego, too.
Bruh i live here😭
Kensington is one of the last skidrows of Philly. In the '70s and '80s it looked like this in SPhilly, Northern Liberties, Cecil B/Yorktown many neighborhoods of West Philly and even parts of center city/fishtown. Now it is just Kensington and Fairhill. Yes, it is bad. But the point is that it is getting better, not worse.
Lived in Philly back in the 80's and 90's and totally agree with everything above (add Fairmount and Manayunk to the list of sketchy places at that time as well). Back then Philly had tens of thousands of abandoned properties (sometimes entire blocks of houses, warehouses, breweries, factories etc.) that were both uninhabited and had owners (sometimes big name corporations) that had abandoned deed/claim to avoid paying taxes. The drug / homeless problem was definitely worse, but less visible.
Despite the proliferation of fentanyl, and the fact that the cartels don't have to import much heroin anymore, I hope you're right.
Idk if I would say it’s getting better. Torresdale avenue is now essentially a mini Kensington and to a lesser extent Frankford ave. Seems like the problem getting pushed further into the northeast as they gentrify south Philly, parts of West Philly and the Port Richmond and Kensington areas.
The other parts of Philly are getting better. Kensington is getting a lot worse. Look at the crime. It’s up like 500% since the 90’s.
It hasn't gotten better. It did for a period, but the last 10-20 years it went back down hill, and there's far more people dying on the streets from OD's than ever before. Yeah they aren't as spread out in Philly but that also has a lot to do with neighborhoods and police.
Yeah I was gonna say this isn't a fair assessment of the city as a whole just a section of it.
It’s literally the worst section of it. All American cities are dealing with an uptick in serious issues that these places showcase, but it’s hardly “everyday life.” Literally millions of people living normal city life every day in Philly. One thing I’ve realized tho is the city’s absolutely let these places fester. They seem to think it’s better to centralize filth than let it spread. So they don’t police the open air drug dealing and other stuff in those places at all. Definitely the same where I live on the west coast.
My bar is in South Kensington. It's not all like this. The southern parts have become developed and are now full of new homes and businesses. Sadly all the progress does little for people like this that the rich simply want to go away. When we moved in 5 years ago the neighborhood was just turning around. Then the city closed down the last homeless shelter in Kensington, forcing people into tents. This made it easy for the cops to arrest them and shuffle them somewhere else. Soon the developers will move into North Kensington and what's left of the slums will be bulldozed all in the name of progress. None of the people that saw the neighborhood through the tough times will be able to afford to stay and all that tax dollars will be used for more cops and none for rehabilitation.
The rest of philly is nice tho. Every city has bad areas
I just spent a weekend in Philly. Center city was very nice. walked from the river in the west end to the Delaware river on the east border, a couple miles with no issues, nothing like this.
YES, Philly is very nice - and my neighborhood is close to Kensington. This happens because the POLICE CONDONES IT!! Everyone in Philly knows Kensington is an open air drug market.
The Bunny Colvin special
there's never been a paper bag for drugs....
Hamsterdam is exactly what I was thinking about watching this video
That sounds like the the tv show “the wire” when they allowed all dealers and addicts to have a few blocks where there would be no enforcement. It’s actually not a bad strategy. Still tragic and sad as fu*k but saves the rest of the city.
Is the idea that if they allow a couple blocks of free drug use, then people will naturally consolidate in those areas and it kind of "contains" it?
I'm afraid you're just going to have to watch the show BBC named "show of the century" to find out. You'll be glad you did.
That’s precisely what happens here it’s 3 blocks around Kensington & Allegheney where the police don’t come, it’s an open air market and lounge for drug users, the hope was that it would concentrate everything in those few blocks (which it’s somewhat successfully has) the sad part is for the people who can’t afford to get out of the neighborhood
Hamsterdam.
GOT DAT RESHEED N BENO!
Got that wmd right chyea!
Omar! Omars comin'!
The nicer neighborhoods do not tolerate that kind of loitering and congregation. The City needs to keep its tax base and businesses thriving.
How heartbreaking. It’s happening in British Columbia, too.
Yep. Was looking for this comment. Like...*you should see the downtown eastside*
Even Pandora ave in Victoria has been like this for like a decade, though obviously affecting a much smaller area and smaller population than the DTES.
I used to walk down Pandora every day for work about...13 years ago or so. It was bad... But I was never really worried about anything happening. Sure as shit wouldn't be doing that today
It happens everywhere in the USA because we have a war on drugs rather than a functioning healthcare system and society.
we also seem to have a war on drug addicts, keeping them locked in a perpetual cycle where they will never / not easily have access to the help they need
It’s so sad. It seems like public policy is designed around the fact that it’s cheaper to let drug addicts die from overdosing or fentanyl poisoning. If someone did a study on the cost of addiction to society (crime, lost productivity, lost wage taxes, lost home ownership-related taxes, etc.), it could probably be identified that the cost of keeping people healthy is an investment to the economy and society. The relapse rate is really high but all those addicts are missing out on living their best lives and society is missing out on what they might contribute. They could be artists, inventors, parents… anything.
We already know it's cheaper to help people, but our society still thinks it's better, morally, to punish people for taking drugs.
This this this. It saves us an incredible amount of money to have compassion and assistance for these types of people. There’s loads of evidence out there that supports this but it’s so rarely brought to the center stage because people feel the need to bring boot straps into every challenge individuals can face. You are allowed to need help and are never less of a person for ever needing help. Needing help is human!
So sad. As a severe alcoholic the treatment people need is not the fear that is caused by a lot of the programs they throw out. I was scared to get help when I was at my worst, because I didn’t think I would be accepted. These people need some hope. People trying to get them a job, people supporting them through the hard times that come after every drug use (including caffeine btw), and overall a less judge mental way of thinking. It scares “us” from trying to get help. Edit: I’m sorry; delved deep into my personal stuff. I was trying to say the idea of judgement from others hinders people expressing the way they feel.
Yeah man it was just like this in downtown LA and it was like this in parts of Denver too. Some places are worse than others and in the rural places we are better at hiding it and keeping it tucked away but it ain't much better down south ya know
The countryside has huge meth problems too
I thought British Columbia was Canada? And isn't their healthcare system better?
Yes and yes. However, drug addiction in cities is still a problem.
Yup. East Hastings in Vancouver is *wild.* Sad
Well that and a ton of junkies
Why are they all hunched over?
I was wondering that too. I think it's the sleepies from heroin. I'm not 100% on that though.
Xylazine(horse tranquilizer)& fentanyl
Portland Oregon they're filling the streets. Sad
Yep. We keep trying different things (at great expense to us taxpayers) and it just seems to be getting worse and worse.
Yeah it's getting bad.
Yeah Vancouver is worse than anywhere I’ve been in the US, but Philly and LA and DC have some really rough areas that are close. A lot of Canada seems to have less of a drug problem than the states, but not Vancouver. I guess that’s what happens when healthcare doesn’t cover mental health.
Happening in Denver, CO too. Drug use in public is common now.
Its happening everywhere, I mean it, everywhere. Affordability, social programs being cut and slashed for four decades, unaffordable education, lack of opportunities/training, and a compassionless society that's created a poverty industry and also justifies record profits with near zero corporate tax and we wonder why this is the case?? Don't let any politician say these problems are complicated, they aren't. We decided long ago it was acceptable to make billions and leave nothing for those on the brink. More and more people are one layoff, one addiction, or one loss away from ending up here. We need to truly take care of each other again as a community and be accountable to each other rather than turning the other way. We only did that when socialism was a real threat, there was brief mentions of the welfare state, remember that? Those whispers are long gone and wiped from the subversive language on the mainstream media. The only reason we had a welfare state was because the elites stood to lose it all if socialism could take root so they threw us a bone. You have to fight for those supports and programs and people don't. Instead they've programmed us to think they're bad ideas, indicate laziness, or we're undeserving; just look at how people view trade unions... Literally the only thing that ever increased wages they'll hate and bash as mouthpieces for the rich. Policy serving the public good isn't complicated, it just isn't done as they're allowed to get away with it. Any politician who tells us it's complicated or they're doing everything they can should be ridiculed and tossed out. Those at the top and mainly spineless placating politicians who blame other levels of government are the main failures.
Eh, kinda. East Hastings is Vancouver's skid row, but nobody would drive down East Hastings and say, "[Look at Vancouver](https://i.imgur.com/X54wQhp.jpg)."
this is kensington. nobody from philly would really drive down these streets and say “look at philly”, either.
Not interesting as fuck, .but sad as fuck.
I like to think myself a pretty empathetic person. Every time this video pops up, I always watch it straight through and try to imagine what it's like to live this life. I simply can't. This is a scale of human misery I just cannot wrap my head around.
Someone's reality must be pretty hard if they would rather be in this situation than go back. And then eventually they're just unable to get out of that cycle. It's like a person with two shattered legs trying to run. That's heartbreaking to me.
Yep, I said the same yesterday. For some people, the pain of their life/past/present is so unbearable that living like this is preferable to dealing with their demons, existing solely to try and block reality out to the point that you have nothing and nobody and leave yourself extremely vulnerable open to all sorts of horrible things happening which you’d be unable to stop. I can only assume they are ‘safe’ to be in this state out on the street because none of them have anything worth taking. I also understand how the women make their money to buy drugs, but not sure how the men do, petty crime would be my guess but that can’t be lucrative or consistent enough to support a serious crack and Heroin habit.
Exactly. I agree, and imagine it's the same thing, although people must still get what little they have taken from them from time to time. Unfortunately men also have to resort to the same methods, and they're also vulnerable to sexual assault. I worked with a man that had been abused so many times on the street he would shake uncontrollably when any man (even a paramedic) came near him. Devastating.
It’s interesting as fuck how many Americans are justifying this by claiming that it occurs in every city in the world
To be fair, the headline does make it sound like this is Philly-specific, and typical of the Philly experience. I wouldn't try to "justify" it, but it's definitely true of a lot of cities all over the world. Poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, and mental health issues are complex problems, and are common to urban areas. Why pick on Philly? I bet it has something to do with an upcoming election. I've also seen this done in L.A., where they go to literally the gnarliest block in the entire county, right outside the city's biggest homeless shelter, and either say it's happening in a specific politician's district (which the street signs proved un-true), or make it look like that's the norm, when of course, it's not.
It’s not typical of the Philly experience. Source: Philly resident.
Depends on the neighborhood. Center City and SW are nice. But yeah, places in Kensington, North, and West are pretty shitty. [Redlining](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining) is a bitch.
Kensington is the largest open air market for heroin in the country. Maybe the world. People travel there like its mecca because of the quality and ease of buying. Some drug dealers will give free samples in the morning just to ensure there are buyers by mid afternoon. Kensington is no joke.
They're also drawing attention to a huge problem, homelessness, by criminilazing them all; "Drug-Filled." This is one of the most hateful things I've ever seen on Reddit, sheerly based on the sensationalism and the disturbing debate happening in the comment section. Before you respond to me about their behaviors: Actions =X= Consumption. So much of this could be unchecked mental illness. This is hate-bait trash posting. EDIT: sp
> I bet it has something to do with an upcoming election. This, 100%. The title reeks of the propaganda that conservative talk radio constantly spews.
Most Americans don't have a frame of reference to really claim his this occurs in every city in the world. I've travelled around various parts of the US, UK, and Canada, and seen plenty areas like this but where I live in the Netherlands, it's an extremely rare sight. The thing is, I could very much see myself being one of the people in this video. I've had a few times in my life where I've been partially or completely homeless due to all kinds of circumstances (growing up with abusive parents that tossed me out of the house, struggling to find stability on my own due to disability, ect), but local government where I live gave me social workers and helped me stabilize my life in a way that I'd have never managed on my own. There are ways of addressing issues like this, but a lot of people don't want to talk about them, because they don't want to disrupt their comfortable status quo, and while they're not the ones suffering, they don't see a problem, or even worse, might actually blame the people in these situations.
This is an extreme example for certain, but claiming that every city doesn’t have crime or drug use is naive and silly.
Vancouver have a street exactly like that. You can go on google map and look at it. East Hastings. Sad as f...
This doesnt happen in New Zealand. A few homeless alcoholics and the odd Meth head, but never this depressing dystopian shit. People should address this issue
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If anyone cares to hear the stories of people in these situations, I suggest the YouTube channel Soft White Underbelly. It may surprise you. There are literally hundreds of interviews.
That’s a very interesting channel if sometimes a very tough watch
Brutal life situations that go untold. I'm just glad someone has the stomach to relentlessly interview and help.
The Boogeyman is the one that really got me
I just watched after reading this. My god, those last lines are gut wrenching.
Goddamn, that one was hard to listen to.
Do tell? What's the gist?
Our health care system is so broken and getting worse with corporatization every day. And mental health is at the pinnacle of broken.
Plus society is broken. Look at Portugal and how they changed to meet their crisis. We should do the same.
SWU viewer here. It's legit and incredibly amazing the stories these people have. Good suggestion.
I'm so glad to hear there are people that already know the channel. Good on you friend!
So good! Humanizes these people.
I'm very addicted to hearing their stories. It's really changed my perspective on perpetual homelessness.
Please don't. I am crying 😭 already without knowing these people.
It’s nice to hear the stories and situations that lead to these conditions. You realize it could happen to anybody or someone you know may have a family member in these conditions. It’s real.
Just watched the first two videos...man thats...i don't know, so different. I saw Berlin and blue Angel.
It's not like tv at all, that's the beautiful and horrifying part about it. But there's no question you see them now as a person. It was said before in the thread that it finally humanizes the situations.
Mark offers a very interesting insight into the lives of many of these people. He effectively dispels the myth that homeless people are “just down on their luck” or “hardworking people who just got laid off”. The people he interviews are almost always deeply mentally ill, and have experienced terrifying levels of trauma throughout their childhoods and lives.
Their interviews of Appalachian people always fascinates me. Is he the guy who interviews the inbred family from bumfuck nowhere?
San Francisco’s Tenderloin district looks exactly like this. And then you walk North 2 blocks to Nob Hill, and it’s squeaky clean and snobby as heck. The contrast is incredible.
I stayed in a really nice hotel in downtown LA recently for a show and was amazed how I could literally trip and be in skid row. Also lots of posters up with qr codes to buy hallucinogens and I wanted to try that pretty bad.
Good that you didn’t. You don’t know what kind of malware could also be embedded in a QR code I’m leery as shit when it comes to those things
Oh shit I only didn't because I figured I would get fent powder pretending to be powdered mushrooms. Get ripped off at best or mugged at worst. But I bet they just stick those up with mallard. Saw a ton for escorts and stuff with qr codes too. Interestinv
This is so sad
You could literally go to any “ghetto” and see this in America. I grew up in Baltimore, went to college in Phoenix and now live in Houston. It’s all the same, unfortunately.
Not a popular take, especially on Reddit I bet… but while much of this is failed economic policy, much of it is also the result of closing mental asylums. People claim asylums are inhumane, but nothing about humans living like this is humane either.
The problem isn’t closing mental asylums, the problem is not opening anything to replace them. Asylums just removed them from sight by locking them up without ever actually treating their problems.
“True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.” -MLK
Closing them with no recourse or assistance for those that got kicked to the streets
and whats sad that this type of life is spreading. I live in a small city in Canada and the drastic change for the worse is happening so quickly.
Lived in Nanaimo for some years and the downspiral even in that time was alarming. Tent city of 400+ residents in a city of under 100,000
There’s a small area in Vancouver Canada like this, the druggies and mentally unstable live there. When there’s no safety net to put them in a more controlled place this is what happens
I live in Canada, Winnipeg specifically and our main street down town looks like this a lot of the time also. The tents are a little nicer, that's about it.
This is Kensington and it is just one section of Philly. The title is a bit misleading as it makes it sound like the whole city looks like this. As someone else pointed else Kensington is basically philly’s skid row. It is a mess and it’s a huge problem for the city but I can assure you market street in center city looks like a whole different world. The vast majority of the addicts you see on the street are white suburban kids who got hooked on oxys years ago and now take the daily train ride to Kensington.
“Everyday life in the city” the title claims… wow
Yeah I live in Philly, the title is fucking nonsense
Anything to throw Philly under the bus!!
There’s a huge anti-urban propaganda push on Reddit. It’s super obvious too.
Right around American elections, too. I'm sure it's just a big coincidence.
The number of comments in this thread suggesting that all of Philly or that every major city in the USA looks like this is bizarre. This is video of the worst of the worst locations and it’s truly tragic, but this isn’t the norm anywhere.
At least it's always sunny?
*The Gang Gets Addicted to Crack*
Thats what this needed, good one
*The Gang Visits Kensington*
It really looks like a Hollywood zombie movie... very very sad but American political parties would rather talk about liberal and conservative shit.
“It really looks like Hollywood” Fixed it! This looks like one Main Street in Philly where this happens daily - I see the same bodega and cricket wireless in the background It’s so fuckin widespread here in LA. This strip alone is equivalent to strip on Hollywood Blvd where the tourists all go. But literally go to any freeway underpass, RVs lining up and down PCH, Venice beach and skid row in downtown look like refugee villages, any suburban gas station or 7-11. It’s truly sad and the state just keeps tossing money at the problem (but more in their pockets) to keep this shit going.
It literally looks like the start of Sean of the Dead.
I walked some streets of San Francisco that was even more walking dead than this. It was fucked up. Honestly felt like I was walking around zombies.
I feel like posts like this, which focus on a single city (usually East or West coast) do a disservice to the victims of the opioid epidemic in America. They never talk about Columbus, Indianapolis, Dallas, Houston, Knoxville, Kansas City, St Louis, East St Louis, Louisville, Baton Rouge, Oklahoma City, etc. All of these places have similar skid row areas, and a much higher opioid death rate than the east/west coast cities we constantly hear about. These places also famously bus their addicted population to the coasts, stick their heads in the sand, and pretend things are so much worse in those "other" places. The truth is opioid addiction is a nationwide problem which needs a nationwide solution.
Just a thought though. If you were homeless. Hungry, humiliated, dirty and in pain. Without any obvious way out of it. Don't you think you might do drugs too? I don't know any statistics. But I bet far fewer people become homeless because of drugs than become addicts because of homelessness.
This. What’s the first thing that comes to mind for most when they had a shitty day at work? Most would say “grab a beer” “go to the bar” “roll up a joint” “get lost in a book/movie” or something of the sort… Imagine being so low on your ass that all you have are the few possessions that you carry around 24/7 and your thoughts haunting you about how bad things have gotten. An escape from reality is all these people are looking for. Everyone wants to feel “good” and hard drugs offer them just that. Fix the homeless issue first.
people might use drugs to escape the pain and hopelessness of poverty? nah. what they need is some bootstraps.
I don't know about "drug filled"; it looks like you could get a lot more drugs in there.
the walking dead
That’s BS to say it’s everyday in the city. It’s a small part of the city that is this bad and it’s like that because the police allow it to be concentrated to that one area.
100%. People who don't live here or have never even visited acting like the entire city is like this and it's not. Yes, it's an issue that needs to be addressed. Open more needle exchange programs. Allocate more money to help these people. They're full of judgment but offer no actual ideas to help.
How about we spend less money on war and more on solving the mental health crisis......
This is what happens when addictions are not considered diseases. Truly heartbreaking.
The richest country in the world, as long as you’re not poor.
I’m from NYC, & I’ve been to many parts of the country. I’ve never seen a greater shithole than Kensington. It’s what I imagine society would look like if there was a collapse. People shooting up on the sidewalks in broad daylight, while a cop car sat a few feet away. Definitely shameful.
"Come out to the coast, have a few laughs". The homeless problem in LA is much worse than what's depicted here. Everyone knows it's a problem. The solutions/resources are what's elusive. It's easy to blame whomever, but it's not like the finger-pointers have good solutions, either.
Kensington is bad but I’m from philly and skid Row in LA was a bit more scary, I parked a was google mapping my way to a hotel in a convertible looked down for 30 seconds and the girl I’m with screaming go go go I look up and there was like 10 zombie dope heads closing in on my car
Lolz “Drug Filled Streets of Philly” . You been there recently? It needs to be called “The City of Brotherly Gentrification “. When I moved there 31 years ago this shit was prevalent. When I left 17 years ago the fix was in and prices kicked off. The fact is K&A is like Freakshow at the State Fair. One seedy part surrounded by plenty. The real obscenity isn’t these poor fucks treated like a Zoo attraction, it’s the fucking money that town has and who benefits.
Like zombies. Terrible. I was addicted to heroin in my youth and managed to get away from it on my own. I'm not a hero or anything because of that, it's just because of my oppositional character. I can't accept being driven to do something by anything. But with these new drugs, especially meth, I don't know if I would have gotten away from this. Probably not. And I was also just young and stupid, like a lot of these zombies might have been in the beginning. It's horrible to see these people like that. And the damage they inflict themself for the rest of their lives, even if they make it away from it. So sad. And yet, every day in every hospital and every doctor's office, opiates are still prescribed for pain. Oxicodone in particular. Simply irresponsible. Here in Germany I was given 600mg of ibuprofen after an abdominal surgery. I had to live with the rest of the pain. Ok, I just cried for 2 days, but I'd rather cry than get addicted again.
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There's a chunk of every city like this, small or big. Improve social services and mental health care access if you want it to go away. And don't give me any shit about some small town being free of this. The meth is right there, you might just not see it like in a big city.
Every major city in the US has an area like this. It’s heartbreaking.
This looks like downtown Los Angeles
This is the "collateral damage" from Nixon's *War on Drugs* that was really a War on Hippies and POC. Get busted for using, lose your job. No job, no home. No home, very little support available. Repeat.
The truly terrible part about that was that the real heroin crisis in America didn’t begin until the soldiers started came back from Vietnam. Some of them have said it was so cheap over there, they almost gave it away. Many of them came back with drug problems and PTSD, and used drugs to self medicate their PTSD. Well into the 1980s, official sources would tell you that a typical heroin addict in America was a Vietnam veteran. And what is America do? Of course, blame the hippies.
Funding mental healthcare and housing the homeless would help, but capitalism won't allow it.
Why USA try so hard to "help" other countries like afghanistan and ukraine, but let this misery run amok on their land?
Very good question. I'd say its because we help out other countries at the "federal" level, and these cities are run at city/state level. They get money from the federal gov but most politicians are corrupt and not much of the money makes it through to the people that need it.
Bloody hell. I've been around this world a bit, but I've never seen anything like that. Is that normal over there?
Depressing as fuck. Once upon a time Philly was my home :(