:::nostress::: ...(please?)

A controversial bus ride through America's heroin capital, Kensington, PA.

“When we talk about the ‘Drug War,’ we have to understand that it functions in a very specific way: it functions as a form of chemical warfare on the people in this country and throughout the world.”

Kensington, PA is one of the nation’s poorest and most neglected neighborhoods. Once a thriving industrial hub for the textile sector, during the late 1970’s Kensington was hit by a wave of de-industrialization which saw American jobs lost to the growing pool of sweatshop labor in Mexico and South East Asia. Today, Kensington’s two major sources of income are welfare and narcotics. As one of the biggest heroin distribution centers in the country, it is not uncommon to find addicts of all ages, crouched in broad daylight, shooting dope with purities ranging from 80 – 90%.

While the U.S. government spends increasingly more money on domestic law enforcement and Colombian paratroopers – all in the name of fighting the so-called War on Drugs – Kensington has spiralled deeper and deeper into abject chaos. Fuelling the crisis, jails are filled to capacity with non-violent drug offenders who, when they are released, cannot qualify for government-sponsored addiction treatment programs. And so a vicious cycle ensues, one that is contained to the Kensington area, where children are brought up in conditions that more closely resemble those of a developing nation than the world’s new imperial superpower.

In this 22-minute extended NewsVideo – scored by Crack The CIA’s DJ Trek-e – GNN takes you on a guided tour through the heart of America’s heroin capital. Sponsored by the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU), The Drug War Reality Tour, transports busloads of tourists to the battlefield of America’s own domestic Drug War, showing them every aspect of the drug game: from where the dope arrives to where it is sold and used. Throughout the tour, street-wise KWRU members break down facts about the narco-culture and how forces like police complicity and corporate investment are aiding and using the drug epidemic to drive Kensington’s people out of their own neighborhood in order to make room for new urban development.

So get on the bus and experience one of the most controversial and inspiring approaches to social activism ever conceived.


Credits
Directed and Edited by:
Stephen Marshall

Produced by:
Lisa Kawamoto Hsu, Ian Inaba

Score by:
Trek-e

Drug War Reality Tour