Residents of Clinton Hill, Brooklyn are outraged over a harm-reduction group that distributes drug paraphernalia on the streets, leading to what they claim is a weekly influx of around a dozen heroin and crack users who sometimes use in plain sight. The organization, funded by millions of dollars from the city and cash from George Soros’ foundation, hands out free needles, crack pipes, and devices for “cooking” heroin every Wednesday at the entrance to the Clinton-Washington Avenue subway station on the C line.
The situation has become particularly concerning for residents, as many of them report seeing people use the free pipes handed out by Vocal-NY organizers to smoke crack or other drugs right in front of their homes. Cole, a 44-year-old social media and marketing professional who lives next to the subway, says she has seen people use the free pipes to “smoke crack or whatever.” She added that she often finds broken crack pipes and other garbage left around her property.
Cole and others who live on Washington Avenue near Fulton Street say they are fed up with the open-air drug scene created by Vocal-NY’s actions. They pull a lot of people into the neighborhood who use drugs,” Cole said, adding that the needle exchange makes the area a gathering place for addicts.
Nate Taylor, a peer educator with Vocal-NY, was present at the May 22 paraphernalia distribution in Clinton Hill and claimed that the group, which runs syringe-exchange programs in Downtown Brooklyn, East New York, Crown Heights, Coney Island, and Brighton Beach, faced issues when handing out needles in Sunset Park. According to Taylor, a gunshot incident occurred during one of their giveaways, leading the police to warn them off from returning to that location.
At the Clinton Hill distribution event, an East New York woman who gave her name only as Nikita admitted she regularly comes by on Wednesdays to pick up new crack pipes, which she referred to as “indulgence stems.” Asked if she planned to use the pipe immediately after receiving it, Nikita responded, “They do their dirt … anywhere … once we give [the kit] to them, that’s on them.
A drug user named Domingo, who comes for the syringes, seemed to feel sympathy for the locals. It’s a great neighborhood,” he told The Post, “but, honestly, the people here, I know they don’t like us around here. I understand. I think if I never used drugs, I probably would have felt the same way.
According to its website, Vocal-NY is a “grassroots membership organization that builds power among low-income people affected by HIV/AIDS, the drug war, mass incarceration, and homelessness in order to create healthy and just communities.” The 510(c)3 tax-exempt organization received $3.5 million from the City Council to fund its ongoing expenses between 2014 and 2024, and at least $1.6 million in city contracts. Some of that money was allocated despite Queens Councilman Robert Holden demanding an end to their funding when a convicted sex offender affiliated with Vocal-NY launched an anti-Asian racial rant while testifying to the City Council in 2021.
In 2022, $2.95 million was allocated to help the group buy its headquarters at Douglass Street and Third Avenue in Brooklyn, with the line items sponsored by Antonio Reynoso, now the Brooklyn Borough President. Reynoso’s office did not return requests for comment. George Soros’ Open Society Foundations allocated Vocal-NY $800,000 between 2020 and 2022, while the Ford Foundation donated $600,000 between 2018 and 2022.
