Biden Initiative Funds Drug Overdose Prevention, Not ‘Crack Pipes’

The Department of Health and Human Services launched a $30 million grant program in December to help “address the nation’s substance use and overdose epidemic” by reducing the dangers related to drug use. The program doesn’t provide funding for crack pipes, contrary to partisan claims fueled by a flawed assumption.

The Harm Reduction Grant Program will allow the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, to distribute $10 million per year over the next three years to support “community-based overdose prevention programs, syringe services programs, and other harm reduction services,” using what HHS calls “evidence-based practices.” 

According to the information outlined in the program, part of the funding can be used to purchase supplies such as safe smoking kits and overdose reversal medication.

On Feb. 7, the Washington Free Beacon published an article and headline claiming, “Biden Admin To Fund Crack Pipe Distribution To Advance ‘Racial Equity.’” The article reported that the “kits will provide pipes for users to smoke crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and ‘any illicit substance,’” attributing that information to an HHS spokesperson.

But the Free Beacon inconsistently reported further down in the same article, “An HHS spokesman declined to specify what is included in the smoking kits. Similar distribution efforts provide mouthpieces to prevent glass cuts, rubber bands to prevent burns, and filters to minimize the risk of disease.”