Man’s best friend has been living the high life at Tompkins Square Park, gobbling up pot and cocaine — and even getting jabbed by hypodermic needles — as rampant, unchecked drug use has exploded in the green space and rest of the East Village, horrified owners told The Post.
“I was so mad — all I did was take her to the park,” said Fiorella Garcia, 26, whose pointer mix, Carla, tested positive for cocaine and THC after a morning run in the park’s grassy knoll this summer.
“She’s a puppy. You don’t know what she’s getting into.”
Benton McClintock, 25, said his 5-year-old Cavalier spaniel-bichon mix, Rusti, had been poked on several occasions. Two weeks ago he stepped on a discarded needle near East 9th Street and Avenue A, just months after he was jabbed by a syringe left near the park’s East 7th Street and Avenue A entrance.
“I’m lucky he hasn’t had any need to go to the vet for any of it,” McClintock said.
But the drugs aren’t all going to the dogs — at least one cat has endured a needle poke in recent months.
The feline’s owner “was cursing. He was like ‘What the f–k, you dirty motherf–kers, you’re always doing things in the park!” said stunned witness Gloria Martinez, 28. “The whole crowd of junkies sitting [nearby] walked away.”
The park has always had a reputation as being rough around the edges, with isolated cases of poked pups like poor pitbull mix Floki, who was stuck with a discarded syringe in in 2020. But the scourge of drugs and used needles littering Tompkins has surged since the pandemic, according to residents, following a wave of new harm-reduction laws aimed at combatting the opioid crisis.
In October 2021, Gov. Hochul signed a law decriminalizing the possession and sale of hypodermic needles, and removing a cap on how many syringes medical sites can provide. An NYPD decree also ordered cops not to cuff addicts shooting up in public.
“Right now, everyone’s [like] ‘let’s hand out needles to addicts,’” cried former dog park manager Garrett Russo, 62. “Where do you think those needles end up?”
The Sanitation Department’s syringe collection unit reported collecting 69,692 discarded or improperly disposed needles across the five boroughs in fiscal year 2022, more than double the 32,252 collected during the same period last year.
Residents also worry that legalizing weed has effectively emboldened addicts to use harder substances in broad daylight, leading to more narcotics and paraphernalia littering the ground.
“Now there’s even more license to use something on the street,” said dog walker Jane Kelton, 67. “I see all these people furtively lighting up stuff that isn’t pot.”
Members of the tight-knit dog community recounted in recent weeks curious hounds picking up syringes as they would sticks, and pooches gobbling down used joints and having seizures.
Parks Department spokesperson Dan Kastanis said its staff has largely kept areas popular among dogs needle-free in Tompkins and has not received any reports of pets sickened by drug-related items.
“Our goal is to keep park-goers safe — the fewer syringes on the ground the better — that is why our staff are specially trained to remove and properly dispose of discarded needles,” Kastanis said.
An NYPD spokesperson said that the 9th Precinct has been deploying officers in Tompkins to address drug-related concerns, in addition to locking the park and illuminating a light tower overnight. It added that narcotics arrests citywide are up 10 percent year-to-date through Oct. 23.
Park-goers warned that it is only a matter of time before tragedy strikes.
“If it’s dogs now, then when is it kids?” asked dog run regular Hannah Harrison, 32. “It’s not gonna get better.”
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