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Psaki calls foul on report that says safe smoking kits YOU paid for are giving out CRACK PIPES

An investigation by the Washington Free Beacon found that five harm reduction organizations’ kits contained the hard drug pipe

Organizations that qualified for President Joe Biden’s multi-million dollar harm reduction program are reportedly distributing crack pipes in so-called safe drug-use kits. The Washington Free Beacon is behind this startling discovery as it went to five harm reduction organizations in New York City, Boston, Richmond, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore and saw every kit they were distributing contained the hard drug pipe.

The Free Beacon’s team also went to over “two dozen harm reduction organizations” and found that a few of them were not including crack pipes in their kits but “they are willing to, but unable to”. Besides, the probe discovered that the organizations were making “paraphernalia for the use of heroin, cocaine, and crystal methamphetamine readily available without requiring or offering rehabilitation services.” All the five firms visited by the conservative website were non-profit health organizations and governmental agencies — the category that could easily get money from the government’s $30 million grant program, which was announced in February and will reportedly be distributed by mid-May. 

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At the time of the announcement earlier this year by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), it was said that the “grant funds must be used primarily to support the following required harm reduction activities,” like “harm reduction vending machine(s), including stock for machines; Infectious diseases testing kits (HIV, HBV, HCV, etc.); FDA-approved overdose reversal medication; Safe sex kits, including PrEP resources and condoms; Safe smoking kits/supplies; Screening for infectious diseases (HIV, sexually transmitted infections, viral hepatitis),” and more.

Also, at the time, a spokesperson for the HHS told the Washington Free Beacon that “kits will provide pipes for users to smoke crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and ‘any illicit substance.’” But soon the statement was branded as “inaccurate”. 

However, now after the Washington Free Beacon’s latest report was out White House press secretary Jen Psaki was confronted by Fox News’s Jacqui Heinrich during Thursday, May 12, press briefing. Heinrich asked, “You said in February that no money from a $30 million harm reduction program would fund the distribution of crack pipes in safe smoking kits. The Washington Free Beacon reported that they went to harm reduction facilities in five cities and all of those facilities had crack pipes in their kits. HHS does not say which programs had applied for funding and the recipient list is not out yet. So I’m just wondering if the White House can say if any taxpayer dollars paid for these claims.”

To which, Psaki snapped back, saying: “No federal funding has gone to it.” And when Heinrich said, “And is there any oversight to ensure that when that money goes out from the program that these organizations will not use federal dollars for crack pipes?” Psaki replied: “This policy does not allow for crack pipes to be included. I would just note that this is a bit of a conspiracy theory that’s been spread out there. It’s not accurate. There’s important drug treatment programs for people who have been suffering from what we’ve seen as an epidemic across the country. And money is not used for crack pipes.”