BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – Residents of Boston’s ritziest and best-known neighborhood are fuming at the city’s Democratic mayor – blaming her policies for rampant open-air drug use in the upscale area.
Beacon Hill, known for its preserved early 19th century brownstones and cobblestone roads famously saved from the wrecking ball, is now facing a new crisis: an alarming uptick in drug-related incidents.
Infuriated locals have laid blame squarely with Mayor Michelle Wu, who launched an initiative to hand out free crack pipes, syringes, and other drug paraphernalia to addicts on the streets in 2022.
While Wu’s administration has pitched this controversial policy as ‘harm reduction,’ critics have countered that all she’s done is increase the permissiveness of open-air drug use in Boston.
‘What in God’s name are they doing?’ Michael Flaherty, who then served as Boston’s at-large city councilor and the public safety chair, told the Boston Herald in 2022.