Share and Follow

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Residents in a ritzy Boston, Massachusetts, neighborhood are complaining that city leadership isn’t doing enough to control open drug use, with locals saying the situation has gotten “very scary.”

During a Boston City Council meeting in October 2024, Beacon Hill resident Katherine Kennedy said she hasn’t seen this level of illegal drug use in Beacon Hill, according to Boston 25. According to Realtor.com, the average home price in Beacon Hill is $2.3 million.

“Prior to this year, I’ve never seen the Boston Common, Cambridge Street or the Esplanade get this overrun with drug paraphernalia or folks in crisis,” Kennedy said. 

Kennedy added, “As a mother of two small children, this is very scary.”

Beacon Hill street

Tourists visit the narrow cobblestoned Acorn Street and its row of townhouses in Beacon Hill. (Getty Images/APCortizasJr)

For Kennedy, who’s a resident of Beacon Hill, the program has led to a dramatic increase in needles seen on her kids’ walk to school. 

“I pass discarded needles as I walk my 5-year-old to her public school every day,” Kennedy said, according to the Boston Herald. “Having to keep needles away from my kids as I walk them to preschool is unacceptable.”

“Boston and the surrounding region is not doing enough to actually disrupt the cycle of addiction that has led to this crisis,” she added.

Robert Charles, former assistant secretary at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, who’s running for governor in Maine, told Fox News Digital that Americans don’t fully understand the downstream impact of illegal drugs.

Beacon Hill tree blossoms

Springtime tree blossoms on Beacon Hill, April 23, 2025. (Getty Images/APCortizasJr)

“It’s a sequence of events. You get dramatic increases in the drug presence, which is a testing of law enforcement and political leadership. If the political leadership and law enforcement either don’t have the resources or don’t have the political will, you gradually see an increase in the drug trafficking itself and, of course, in overdoses,” Charles said. “The burglaries go up, the robberies go up, the assaults go up. The domestic abuse goes up. Something like 80% of all domestic abuse is tied to polydrug use.”

Share and Follow
You May Also Like
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy students to travel from Lakeview, Chicago to Vatican City for audience with Pope Leo XIV

Students from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy to Journey from Lakeview, Chicago to Meet Pope Leo XIV in Vatican City

CHICAGO (WLS) — On Wednesday, a group of traveling students from Our…
Hundreds protest ICE and federal agents in downtown Chicago

Hundreds Rally Against ICE and Federal Agents in Downtown Chicago

CHICAGO (WGN) A large protest in downtown Chicago Tuesday evening drew hundreds…
Attorney General Bondi touts Memphis arrests during federal deployment as US, state officials meet

AG Bondi Praises Memphis Arrests Amid Federal Operation at Officials’ Meeting

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and U.S. Attorney General…
Delta jets have 'low-speed collision' on the ground at New York's LaGuardia, injuring 1

Two Delta Planes Experience ‘Low-Speed Collision’ on Ground at New York’s LaGuardia, 1 Person Injured

NEW YORK (AP) — Two Delta Air Lines regional jets collided Wednesday…
Small plane makes emergency landing on freeway: 'Mayday! Mayday!'

Light Aircraft Performs Emergency Landing on Highway: ‘Mayday! Mayday!’

Wild video shows a small plane making an emergency landing on a…
Munich Oktoberfest fairgrounds closed after bomb threat and deadly explosion

Munich Oktoberfest fairgrounds closed after bomb threat and deadly explosion

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! German police closed the…
Jane Goodall dead at 91: Primatologist passes away peacefully in US

Renowned Primatologist Jane Goodall Passes Away Peacefully at 91 in the US

World renowned primatologist Jane Goodall has died at the age of 91…
Assata Shakur's shameless hero-worshippers deserve our disgust and condemnation

Assata Shakur’s Admirers Deserve Criticism and Disapproval

Anyone who fails to denounce allies who celebrate a cop-killer rightfully earns…