String of K2 Possession Arrests Concentrated on One Chelsea Block: NYPD
(DNAINFO) Noah Hurowitz — More than half of the arrests for synthetic marijuana possession in the 13th Precinct this year have occurred on one block of West 25th Street, and numbers have soared in comparison to 2014, according to police.
Officers in the 13th Precinct have made 41 arrests for possession of K2, as the drug is often called, on West 25th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues since January, up from just 14 in the same time period last year, a police spokesman said.
The problem on the block has become so bad that the NYPD has assigned extra men to police the area and one business owner joked that so many people were smoking the drug, they could get high off second-hand smoke.
“They sit on the stoop and so much smoke blows inside we’re practically addicted ourselves,” said Victor Mevo, who has operated a vintage store at 120 W. 25th St. for eight years.
Thirty-seven arrests for possession of the drug have taken place in other areas of the precinct, which covers Stuyvesant Town, Gramercy, Union Square, Kips Bay, Murray Hill and part of Chelsea, bringing the total this year to 78, up from 27 arrests last year at this time, Police Officer Charles Sarriera said.