Editing Opioid Crisis in Philadelphia (section)

== Kensington ==

The Kensington neighborhood in North Philadelphia has become the epicenter of Philadelphia's opioid crisis, with open-air drug markets, visible drug use, and encampments that have created conditions unlike anywhere else in the city. The area's drug markets have operated for decades, but fentanyl and the population it draws have intensified concentration.<ref name="opioid"/>

Conditions in Kensington include people openly injecting drugs on sidewalks, discarded needles, homeless encampments, and the visible effects of addiction including wounds, illness, and overdoses. Residents who have lived in the neighborhood for generations struggle with conditions that have transformed their community. Businesses close, property values decline, and everyday life becomes difficult amid the crisis.<ref name="opioid"/>

Clearing encampments has been attempted repeatedly, with camps re-forming after displacement. The fundamental problem—large numbers of addicted, homeless people with nowhere else to go—persists regardless of encampment policy. Services in the area include shelters, harm reduction programs, and treatment access points, but demand vastly exceeds capacity.<ref name="opioid"/>