HARLEM — An East Harlem intersection dubbed "K2 Street" last year for its problems with synthetic drug use has been greatly cleaned up, residents and officials said.
The area around 125th Street and Lexington Avenue was not unlike the Bed-Stuy intersection where a mass overdose left people semi-conscious, lying on the street on Tuesday morning.
But residents at 125th Street and Lexington Avenue said sweeping crackdowns on stores that were selling K2 have greatly cleaned up their area.
A group of women standing on “K2 Street” Wednesday said they have not seen use of K2 in the area since a massive spike last year.
“We don’t see that no more,” said one woman, who declined to give her name.
Last summer police seized more than 8,000 packets of synthetic marijuana during inspections of bodegas in East Harlem.
“The police stopped that with the quickness and the people ran their a---s out, too,” another woman said. She also declined to give her name.
The woman pointed to the 25th Precinct’s Mobile Command Unit nearby as one reason for the weakening of the drug’s presence in the area since last year.
The 25th Precinct, which covers the area where the spike last year was recorded, said it has not seen many recent K2-related reports come through the precinct recently.
City officials cited a recent decline — 85 percent — in K2-related hospital visits. They credited the decline to aggressive enforcement measures by the city, including banning the selling and manufacturing of the drug.
In July 2015, there were nearly 1,200 emergency room visits citywide. In March 2016 that number dropped to about 200, according to the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
But bodega worker Abdul Lakhani, 28, told DNAinfo New York demand was still there. He said about 80 people have come into A&J Tobacco & Grocery, at 2010 Lexington Ave. near 123rd Street, looking for K2 since it opened two months ago.
“When we first opened people came (looking),” he said. “But now they know we don’t sell it, they don’t come anymore.”
Lakhani said he has noticed, on occasion, people slumped over and in a daze, but said he could not tell if the reaction was because of K2 or another drug.
Another bodega, Ocean Deli Corp. at 1990 Lexington Ave. near 122nd Street, had the city's Health Department’s awareness sign posted in its window. A worker said the store has never sold the drug, but some have come in asking for it.
At LX Deli on 125th and Lexington Ave., which reports said was the target of a raid last year that turned up 2,000 bags of the substance, demand has dried up.
“Nobody comes over here no more, they know we don’t have none," a worker who didn't give his name said.
