New Bill Would Block Biden From Using Tax Dollars to Buy Crack Pipes

Despite Snopes and Facebook’s fact-checking claiming otherwise, documents unveiled earlier this week show the Biden administration aims to put $30 million in taxpayer money into a grant program that would distribute “safe” crack pipe smoking kits for addicts in the name of racial equality. In response to the taxpayer subsidized smoking kit program, Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) have introduced the Cutting Rampant Access to Crack Kits (CRACK) Act of 2022. The Act would block American Rescue Plan Act dollars from providing pipes for users to smoke drugs like crack cocaine and crystal meth. Per Sen. Kennedy’s office:

“The Biden administration wants to spend millions of dollars helping drug users smoke crack and meth, but there is no safe way to smoke these dangerous drugs. Sooner or later, these drugs kill people. Why wouldn’t the president spend this money to help people get off crack and meth or to stop these drugs from crossing the border into our country in the first place? I’m grateful to partner with Sen. Rubio to make sure taxpayer dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act don’t end up funding crack pipes,” said Kennedy. The Department of Health and Human Services originally explained that the Harm Reduction Program, which the American Rescue Plan Act funds, would help provide drug users with pipes to smoke crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine and “any illicit substance.” Text of the CRACK Act of 2022 is available here.

Back to holding the fact-checkers accountable, former New York Times reporter Nellie Bowles explained in a column on Bari Weiss’ can’t-miss Substack today how Snopes admitted that the White House’s half-baked plan to distribute crack pipes is true. According to Snopes’ arbiters of truth it simply isn’t important. Bowles writes:

The Free Beacon reported that a source told them the crack kits could specifically include pipes, and the story went viral. The Fact Checkers were furious. Snopes, which at one time was a Facebook official fact checker, labeled the reporting with a big red X and MOSTLY FALSE rating . . . while confirming the Free Beacon reporting as entirely true. Here’s how they explained it: In 2022, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services substance abuse harm reduction grant did require recipients to provide safer smoking kits to existing drug users. In distributing grants, priority would be given to applicants serving historically underserved communities. However what’s false is this was just one of around 20 components of the grant program and far from its most prominent or important one.

Bowles’ report certainly doesn’t help Snopes overcome its notorious reputation. Facebook’s Fact Check was more charitable to the story, first reported by The Washington Free Beacon, although it still rated it “Partly False.” At the same time, it also confirmed the scandalous details published by The Free Beacon, as Bowles notes:

While a description of the HHS grants stated that the grantees would be required to buy materials like safe smoking kits and supplies to “enhance harm reduction efforts,” such kits and supplies are just a few of the many materials that grantees can utilize.  The crack kits are just one of many other things in the basket, you see. So it’s false.

Instead of being justifiably skeptical of authority, the mainstream media has bought into the White House’s claims that they were never going to add crack pipes to these goodie bags. The once estimable Associate Press published the following article on Wednesday, No money for drug pipes: Feds douse social media firestorm. Meanwhile, Salon called the GOP’s concerns over the (ahem) short-sighted policy a blatant dog whistle, declaring in their headline that From ‘crack pipes’ to ‘critical race theory’: GOP’s 2022 midterm strategy is overt racism. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of The Republican Standard.