What was once a high-end Manhattan neighborhood has become nearly unrecognizable, as drug addicts now shoot up in broad daylight outside luxury condos and playgrounds.
According to the New York Post, the chaos centers around Greenwich House, a $30 million nonprofit opioid clinic in NoHo that many locals say has invited daily overdoses, open drug use, and criminal activity into their streets.
The clinic, which operates under the controversial “harm reduction” model, hands out methadone, fentanyl test strips, and overdose-reversing naloxone to more than 1,300 users.
Rather than requiring addicts to enter treatment or seek sobriety, Greenwich House merely offers services “when they’re ready,” an approach critics say is contributing to the public safety crisis.
“Every day, there are at least two or three overdoses just around this corner,” said Hassane Elbaz, who has operated a nearby coffee cart for 25 years.
“Paramedics save a lot of them. But about every two months, one of them dies.”
In the early hours before the clinic opens, lines of addicts stretch around the block. The Post observed that numerous individuals collapsed on sidewalks, passed out on park benches, or injecting drugs into their necks, arms, and legs.
One man even wandered into moving traffic before collapsing as medics attempted to revive him.
Residents are outraged. “It’s tragic and scary,” said local homeowner Linda Sondik, who has witnessed people overdose and collapse on the streets.
“Walking on Houston between Mercer and Crosby is an absolute disaster.”
Playgrounds and parks are no longer safe for children, either. “The kids will be playing and there’ll be people screaming and wailing on the other side,” said resident Lilly Migs.
“Parents have called 911 and sometimes paramedics never show up.”
Despite the deteriorating conditions, the clinic continues to receive massive public funding. Greenwich House pulls in nearly $8 million a year from the city and state, and has doubled its operating budget since 2021.
Left-wing officials like Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal have proudly appeared in its annual reports.
The organization is also backed by the Soros family. Jonathan Soros and his wife, Jennifer, were listed among its top donors last year, giving $50,000, according to tax filings.
Critics point to New York’s political leadership as part of the problem. The decriminalization of needles in 2021 under Democrat-controlled Albany has effectively allowed addicts to shoot up in public without consequence.
Police say the law ties their hands when it comes to enforcement.
Charles Fane Lehmann of the Manhattan Institute criticized the harm reduction model as unrealistic. “Most people addicted to drugs are addicted for their whole lives,” he said.
“They often view efforts to get people into treatment as hostile.”
This crisis isn’t unfolding in a vacuum. It reflects a broader pattern of Democrat-led policy failures across the state. Just this month, Governor Kathy Hochul dropped charges against NYC Comptroller Brad Lander for allegedly assaulting ICE agents during a protest, according to Law Enforcement Today.
Rather than supporting law enforcement, she posed for photos and praised his activism, while quietly funneling over $64 million in taxpayer funds toward legal aid for illegal immigrants.
Likewise, the “defund the police” narrative continues to haunt the city. During a recent mayoral debate, former Governor Andrew Cuomo admitted he had used the phrase, even as he now tries to distance himself from it.
Meanwhile, radical candidates like Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani have called the NYPD “wicked and corrupt” and demanded its dismantling, all while neighborhoods like NoHo descend into chaos.
In 2024, drug overdose deaths in New York topped 2,300: nearly triple the number from a decade ago. Most of those deaths were linked to fentanyl or synthetic opioids.
Instead of cracking down, the city is doubling down on failed policies that allow disorder to fester right next to million-dollar apartments and children’s playgrounds.
