US: Outrage at Biden administration caving to 'crack pipes' pressure

By Alexander Lekhtman / Filter

In one of the most exasperating controversies of Biden’s presidency, elected Republicans and conservative talking heads whipped up a social media firestorm this week, accusing the White House of wanting to distribute the pipes nationwide. This all stemmed from a grant program launched last year by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Biden’s multi-trillion dollar coronavirus rescue package, passed in March 2021, contained an historic-but-small $30 million in grant funding to public and private organizations to support harm reduction services, like the opioid-overdose antidote naloxone and sterile syringes. And “safe smoking kits/supplies” were listed as another eligible category. But under right-wing pressure, Biden’s administration rapidly went on the defensive. His press secretary, HHS secretary and “drug czar” all went on the record on February 9, to clarify that “no federal funding will be used directly or through subsequent reimbursement of grantees to put pipes in safe smoking kits.” It reads as a textbook example of political cowardice.