On Monday, it was widely reported that President Biden’s Department of Health & Human Services were planning to implement a $30 million grant program which would include handing out “safe smoking kits” to drug addicts.
“Applicants for the grants are prioritized if they treat a majority of ‘underserved communities,’ including African Americans and ‘LGBTQ+ persons,’ as established under President Joe Biden’s executive order on ‘advancing racial equity,’” The Washington Free Beacon reported.
In what many saw as adding insult to injury, fact-checking organization Snopes then declared that the claim, “In early 2022, the Biden administration endeavored to advance racial equity by distributing crack pipes to drug users,” was “Mostly False.” Snopes has since changed its rating to “outdated.”
Critics immediately slammed both the policy position and Snopes rating.
- Sen. Tom Cotton: “HHS confirms that the Biden Administration is funding crack pipe distribution. They call it ‘harm reduction.’ The rest of us call it insanity.”
- Rep. Dan Crenshaw: “HHS just announced they are funding crack pipes for addicts to promote ‘racial equity.’ In the woke dystopia, facilitating self-destruction is the same as racial justice.”
- House Judiciary GOP: “Joe Biden is handing out free crack pipes. Your kids are still wearing masks in school. Priorities.”
- Dana Loesch: “Let me understand this — if YOU give someone a crackpipe that you bought with your own money, that’s a crime but if the GOVERNMENT gives someone a crackpipe bought with your money that’s OK?”
- Tim Pool: “Snopes be like…Is Biden’s Admin funding the distribution of Crack Pipes? MOSTLY FALSE…He is also giving out syringes in addition to crack pipes…the f***?”
- Dinesh D’Souza: “The Biden plan to provide $30 million in crack pipes to the black community is an apt metaphor for the relationship between the black underclass and the Democratic Party.”
- Newt Gingrich: “So the Biden Administration is telling teachers overseas to replace mother and father with persons while giving away crack pipes in poor neighborhoods-are they just insane???”
- Jack Posobiec: “You can’t have ivermectin but you can get a crack pipe.”
- Charlie Kirk: “It shouldn’t be easier to get a crack pipe in America than it is to get Ivermectin.”
- Sean Spicer: “The Biden Administration cut funding for monoclonal treatment of COVID but is spending $30 million on crack pipes.”
- Nick Freitas: “Is Hunter Biden going to be taking point on the White House’s crack pipe distribution program?”
- Tim Young: “Trump wanted to revitalize the black community with the Platinum plan that invested millions in businesses… Biden sent the black community crack pipes.”
- Lavern Spicer: “An 80 year old white man thinks the best way to promote racial equality is handing out CRACK PIPES to Black folk. In my whole life I have never heard a dumber thing than this bulls***.”
- Allie Beth Stuckey: “Ivermectin is horse dewormer, hydroxychloroquine is fish tank cleaner, monoclonal antibodies are useless, and free crack pipes are equity. I love science!”
On Wednesday, Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra and the Office of National Drug Control Policy director Dr. Rahul Gupta released the following statement:
HHS and ONDCP are focused on using our resources smartly to reduce harm and save lives. Accordingly, no federal funding will be used directly or through subsequent reimbursement of grantees to put pipes in safe smoking kits. The goal of harm reduction is to save lives. The Administration is focused on a comprehensive strategy to stop the spread of drugs and curb addiction, including prioritizing the use of proven harm reduction strategies like providing naloxone, fentanyl test strips, and clean syringes, as well as taking decisive actions to go after violent criminals who are trafficking illicit drugs like fentanyl across our borders and into our communities. We will continue working to address the addiction and overdose epidemic and ensure that our resources are used in the smartest and most efficient manner.
This article has been revised to clarify that the initiative lists “safe smoking kits” in its list of items rather than specifying “crack pipes.”
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.