NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The problem of people smoking and overdosing on K2 has gone citywide.
CBS2 even found a new neighborhood in the Bronx where it is a snap to buy, users abound, and pleas to help are apparently ignored.
CBS2 Political Reporter Marcia Kramer was demanding answers about the problem from Mayor Bill de Blasio in an exclusive report Wednesday.
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For emergency personnel called to the junction of Willis Avenue and 149th Street in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, it has become business as usual to see people overdosing on K2 – also known as synthetic marijuana or spice – and ending up on stretchers.
It is so commonplace that EMS workers and firefighters call the area K2 alley.
As exclusive pictures showed, it is easy to see why. People strung out on K2 loll on chairs in the middle of the sidewalk, lean against buildings, and nod out as mothers push their strollers to nearby stores.
People in the area say it is really easy to buy K2 there.
“There’s different name brands; there’s different names for them, but it’s all the same thing,” one man said.
The man told Kramer the going price for what he called “a stick” was $3. The man would not tell Kramer where to buy it, but within minutes of the conversation, he returned with a thin, brown cigarette of K2.
Local businessmen are furious because the strung-out users are everywhere.
“I’ve been here 24 years, and I’ve never, ever, ever, ever seen it this way,” said local businessman Abel Brea. “Something is going on, and I have to believe you have to put the blame on City Hall; the mayor.”
Another local vendor has been getting people to sign a petition to get the city to act.
“We’ve been trying so long,” said Terwinder Singh. “People be smoking K2 in front of business, and they’ll be falling down like crazy people; don’t want to walk through streets. And we are businessmen. We’re paying rent and everything. We’re losing a lot of business.”
CBS2’s Kramer brought the frustrations to Mayor de Blasio. She asked him what he could do for the “pressing problem.”
“We can do a lot,” de Blasio said. “I’m very concerned about it, and we are acting on it immediately. We will throw the book at anyone selling K2. NYPD is very focused.”
Kramer asked the mayor if help was on the way for “K2 alley” in the Bronx.
“Help is on the way, and again, we proved in East Harlem we can break the back of the problem. We can go after the bad actors who are selling this very dangerous drug. We’re going to get them. We’re going to shut down any stores that are doing this.”
Mayor de Blasio told CBS2 he wants the bodega owners to understand if they’re selling the drug, the city has the ability to shut them down.
“We will literally take away your livelihood,” the mayor said.
In Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn on Wednesday, police were raiding multiple delis in the area of Broadway and Myrtle Avenue after 33 people overdosed on K2 and had to be hospitalized in the area the day before.
As CBS2’s Valerie Castro reported, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams distributed fliers in Bed-Stuy, hoping to educate people.
“Thirty-plus people overdosing on K2 is a throwback from the era when we had crack dens spread throughout this community,” Adams said. “We are not going backwards.”
The NYPD says because K2 recipes change constantly, some ingredients aren’t illegal, so it’s difficult to crack down on the dangerous drug. The Police Department added that synthetic pot is still not included in penal law. It can be illegal under federal law if it is made using a controlled substance.
