(New York Post) Progressive policies funded and foisted on the Big Apple by Gov. Hochul and her left-wing allies have caused a legion of drug-addicted zombies to descend on East Harlem and transform parts of the neighborhood into lawless, open-air shooting galleries, neighbors and critics told The Post.
The real-life horror show plays out daily in the neighborhood’s gritty streets where The Post witnessed dozens of raving, hunched-over junkies commandeering East 126th Street — now the home of a controversial public-injection site — as drug dealers hovered nearby like vultures.
Others along Park Avenue down to East 114th Street have been spotted nodding out, splayed on the sidewalk, and injecting themselves in the neck or through jeans in broad daylight.
“I almost hope a Republican governor wins, so that way they come and knock this all out,” said community developer Derrick Taitt, referring to Tuesday’s general election. “The Democrats have done nothing for us. Nothing!”
Residents and a top community board official say the shocking scene — hordes of addicts jabbing themselves in front of grade schoolers, a swelling sea of syringes littering the ground — is a direct result of a “harm reduction” legislative package peddled by left-wing Albany Democrats. It was signed into law in October 2021 by Hochul, a once-moderate pol eager to appeal to her party’s woke wing just months after she took office.
The new laws:
- Decriminalized public possession and sale of hypodermic needles, and also lifted the cap on how many needles a pharmacy could sell
- Expanded the roster of crimes that drug addicts could commit to entering treatment programs and gave judges the option of mandating treatment in lieu of jail time
- Decriminalized “opioid antagonists” like Narcan that reverse opioid overdoses
- Created an online directory of opioid antagonist distributors
- Established substance abuse recovery programs for inmates in state and correctional facilitiesA directive, citing the new law decriminalizing possession of needles, also ordered cops not to arrest addicts shooting up in public.
“Gov. Hochul opened up the floodgates to the ruination of the state when she signed laws allowing for open-drug use on our streets and subways,” said Councilman Robert Holden, a moderate Queens Democrat.
“Instead of focusing on drug addicts getting the help they desperately need, she allowed them to feed their addictions while destroying the quality of life for New Yorkers. Whether it’s this, cashless bail, Raise the Age [juvenile justice law], the [Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement] Act, congestion pricing, and others, Kathy Hochul must be held accountable for the 14 months of destruction she caused New York,” added Holden, who is backing Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin in Tuesday’s gubernatorial election.
Neighbors say they witness “dozens of raving, hunched-over junkies commandeering East 126th Street.”J.C.Rice
Neighbors along Park Avenue down to East 114th Street have spotted people injecting themselves in the neck or through jeans in broad daylight.
