We’ve told you in the past how governments like New York have decided to distribute crack pipes for free in order to keep people from doing Fentanyl.
Today we learn that the Biden administration is funding a group in Texas, to the tune of nearly $800,000, that distributes crack pipes in El Paso.
Here’s more from Dallas Express:
The Biden administration’s “harm reduction” program funds a Texas organization that distributes crack pipes, possibly violating state law, according to an investigation by The Dallas Express.
Since last year, the El Paso Alliance has received nearly $800,000 from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of the nation’s first federal harm reduction program. The group distributes “smoke kits” to drug addicts and told a reporter from The Dallas Express that such kits include a “small, cylinder glass.”
The distribution and possession of drug paraphernalia in Texas is banned under Health and Safety Code 481.002(17).
The HHS harm reduction program listed “smoking kits” as equipment eligible for purchase with federal grants. However, top HHS officials and then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki previously denied reports that such kits would include crack pipes, as The Dallas Express covered at the time.
A group that oversees the ‘harm reduction’ program sends strongly worded ‘terms and conditions’ to groups to ensure taxpayer money isn’t used to purchase crack pipes:
An official for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which oversees the HHS program, said the agency works with individual grant recipients to ensure funds are not used on pipes.
“SAMHSA sends Terms and Conditions language to all harm reduction grant recipients: ‘Award funds shall not be used, directly or indirectly, to purchase or promote the use of drug paraphernalia, including pipes/pipettes in safer smoking kits,’” a SAMHSA spokesperson told The Dallas Express. “Grant recipients are also reminded that any organization using SAMHSA dollars must comply with federal, state, and local laws and regulations.”
“All grant recipients submit an annual budget that includes line items for all supplies intended to be purchased with SAMHSA funds,” the spokesperson continued. “In some cases, grant recipients may receive funding from non-federal sources that do not have the same restrictions as federal funding. SAMHSA does not oversee the use of these funds. However, SAMHSA grantees must operate within the bounds of federal, state, and local laws.”
The El Paso Alliance did not respond to a request for comment on whether it uses federal dollars to purchase its smoking kits.
The El Paso Police Department did not respond to a request for comment on whether it provides an exception to the law for the El Paso Alliance.
Yeah I’m sure these terms and conditions are sent with a ‘wink wink’, ‘nod nod’ and that these groups likely have ways of concealing the purchase of these crack pipes from the annual budgets. I don’t doubt for a second that our money is funding crack pipes.