Is it Me or Do We Have a Drug Issue in Greenwich Village?

The pandemic is over, but the streets don’t feel safer.

By Mia Isacson

THE SURROUNDING AREA of the West Fourth Street station. Photo by Mia Isacson.

As a teenager living in Greenwich Village, it is only natural that I would have to become more aware of my surroundings when walking in my neighborhood. But recently, it feels like everywhere I walk, there are people on the street openly abusing substances or yelling into the air. The area stretching between the West Fourth Street and Ninth Street subway stations along Sixth Avenue has become particularly scary. As I constantly have to maneuver the streets to stay safe, I ask myself, how adversely does this affect businesses and other residents? And, if it’s as bad as it feels to me, what can the city do to better control this issue that plagues us?

The issue of drug abuse is neither novel nor unique to Greenwich Village. It is a New York City-wide problem. In 2024, the New York City Department of Health reported a death by overdose every four hours, a statistic significantly higher than in previous years. However, there is little data about how illegal drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, are coming into the city. One of the reasons why the issue is especially pervasive in Greenwich Village is because of our many subway stations, parks, and scaffolding.

While the data is a bit unclear, the consensus among residents and business owners isn’t. Many people I spoke with are questioning whether to even stay in the city because of the pervasiveness of drug abuse and crime. Carlos, a doorman on West Ninth Street, recently moved back after living in Texas for three years. After seeing the state of the city, he regrets his choice and is persuading his friend, who also used to live in New York, to stay in Texas. Carlos said, “Now that I am back and seeing more homeless, I am saying, ‘man, you don’t want to be here, I wish I could have stayed there.’ That’s how serious things are with the drugs.” Another resident who lives just off Sixth Avenue also admits to thinking about leaving because of the drug issues on his block. He said, “The thought does creep into my mind, do we really want to be here?”

This issue also affects businesses. A salesperson at Bigelow Pharmacy on Sixth Avenue explained that during the holiday season, they had to hire security for the first time in their 187-year history. And, like CVS, Bigelow also had to keep their fragrances behind locked doors. The cashier of a new store on Sixth Avenue said, “You always have to be on guard in this neighborhood. The people who use drugs will harass the customers who eat outside. Some customers get upset and leave.”

Everyone I interviewed suggested that they believe drug abuse and homelessness have worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the data proves this. A study by Millennium Health’s Jacob Wainwright and colleagues revealed that the number of positive drug screens for fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine increased after the U.S. declaration of COVID-19. The findings, published in JAMA, were notably due to the quarantine when people in self-isolation reported 26% higher drug consumption. As all urban issues are interconnected, the housing crisis, economic insecurity, and increased infections in the shelters brought more people to the streets where they were exposed to dangerous and addictive substances.

Though many residents expected the Village to return to its pre-pandemic state, many now feel the drug and crime situation has gotten worse and blame the lack of police efforts to contain the situation. Carlos, the doorman, said the police “don’t even care anymore,” and in his eyes a solution would be for “the cops to just stop and check [the drug abusers]. They are doing too many things in the public eye.” Though arrest rates in New York decreased in 2023 compared to 2018, as per the Criminal Justice Society agency, this doesn’t mean crime has gone down. Because of New York bail reform in 2019, residents feel that police officers are less inclined to arrest people, knowing that they will most likely make bail and return to the streets. Residents and business operators are now so used to seeing crime that they are less likely to call the police. A resident who lives on West Ninth Street said that before the pandemic, he would have called if he saw someone injecting heroin, but now it is so frequent he “doesn’t see the value.”

Clearly, the crime and drug abuse situation is not simply a crime and punishment issue. There are many factors contributing to what many see as a crisis in Greenwich Village. Not only do people feel less safe, but business owners are concerned about tourism and foot traffic.

As a proud New Yorker, I desire to see my neighborhood safe and local businesses and residents thriving. Though the factors contributing to the issue need to be resolved, in the meantime, more police intervention and more people saying something when they see something would help teenagers like me and others on the street feel safer and more comfortable in our beloved neighborhood.

Mia Isacson is a junior at Philips Academy Andover who loves the humanities. She grew up in the Greenwich Village and believes New York City is the best place on Earth.