Brooklyn parents warn playgrounds overrun with drug vials: ‘Finding them all over’
Brooklyn parents say that several parks and playgrounds in Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy and other nearby neighborhoods are overrun with used drug paraphernalia — including crack cocaine pipes and colorful “trash can” vials used to hold fentanyl or heroin.
“We’re finding them all over — Crispus Attucks Playground, Hattie Carthan Playground, Herbert Von King Park, Jesse Owens Playground, Brower Park,” one exasperated mother told The Post Wednesday.
A group of parents recently cleaned up more than 100 pieces of drug paraphernalia over a seven-day span at Crispus Attucks in Clinton Hill, the 40-year-old Crown Heights homeowner said.
“My daughter was gifted a fentanyl container [from a playground] from another classmate,” said one artist mom whose daughter’s school uses Hattie Carthan Playground in Bed-Stuy. “It’s pretty horrific to have your kids come home with fentanyl containers.
“Our school has created a group of parents who clean the playground every morning before school,” she added. “Our principal, for a while, bought her own Master Lock to lock the playground because the city has cut funding to Parks and Recreation. So our playground that is connected to our elementary school doesn’t get cleaned up. Often the bathrooms are so filled with human waste that the children can’t play at the playground during the school day.”
While The Post was interviewing the mom at the playground, which is connected to PS 305, her young daughter found a “fentanyl container behind one of the park benches. I just asked my daughter where fentanyl containers are regularly found and she knew exactly which bench to go to … “
Like other parents in this story, she asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution.
Suspected drug users and dealers regularly operate at Hattie Carthan Playground, parents said, leaving behind unmistakable evidence.
“Trash cans of fentanyl and crack pipes and people actively using is a common sight for children,” a mother of a 2-year-old son told The Post, calling Madison Street between Nostrand and Marcy avenues a “massive drug market.
“Dealers use Hattie Carthan playground as a drug drop, and students regularly are commuting on this block,” the 39-year-old educator added. “I completely stopped going to Hattie Carthan and John Hancock, which is very sad because those playgrounds are affiliated with schools and they’re in the worst shape.”
The mother praised authorities for charging six suspects on Oct. 4 with running an open-air narcotics market near Putnam and Nostrand avenues, but insists children still aren’t safe.
“It doesn’t feel like anything has changed in the area,” she told The Post.
Jack Maher, who was at Crispus Attucks with his toddler daughter Leah, said he’s noticed a sharp increase in abandoned drug paraphernalia in the past year.
“Especially with the little ones, we’re just very worried about them playing in the park and then picking up something that could be extremely dangerous. So hopefully people hear about this issue and take action — it’s a topic of frequent conversation.”
Several frustrated Bed-Stuy residents demanded action Tuesday at a Build the Block meeting hosted by the NYPD in the 79th Precinct, but one 33-year-old software engineer who lives in the area walked away frustrated.
“Their reaction to our questions was to ask all of us to constantly report crimes by calling them directly,” the engineer, mother of a 2-year-old son, said. “They proposed no real strategy of solving the drugs-in-playgrounds issue or of reducing rampant daytime drug-dealing. They only put the responsibility of solving the problem on citizens.”
A Department of Parks & Recreation spokesman did not return a message seeking comment. The Post has also reached out to the NYPD.
The call for action comes weeks after the private Brooklyn Waldorf School in Bed-Stuy sent a note to parents saying students had discovered a “full fentanyl capsule” during a class visit to nearby Crispus Attucks Playground.
Both public and private schools and daycares regularly utilize the impacted parks and playgrounds.
“We’ve put in hundreds of 311 and 911 complaints,” said a mom whose 3-year-old son attends private school in Bed-Stuy. “They’re selling drugs in the open, they’re doing drugs in the open. It’s just an overarching issue.
“I mean, listen, we still go to parks; our kids can’t not go to the park,” said the mom, who works in sales. “We’re really trying to work hard to find a solution.”
Narcotics arrests in Brooklyn’s 79th Precinct, which includes parts of Bed-Stuy and Herbert Von King Park, have surged 27% this year through Sunday compared to the same span in 2022, NYPD data shows.
The rise is even starker in recent weeks — skyrocketing 160% in the last 28 days, according to statistics obtained by The Post.
