(LifeSiteNews) — It may not be a “conspiracy theory” after all: The Biden administration could actually be financing crack pipes for drug addicts, contrary to White House denials and mainstream fact checks, according to an investigative report by The Washington Free Beacon.
The Beacon reported Thursday that, according to its recent investigation, “[c]rack pipes are distributed in safe-smoking kits up and down the East Coast, raising questions about the Biden administration’s assertion that its multimillion-dollar harm reduction grant program wouldn’t funnel taxpayer dollars to drug paraphernalia.”
The discovery was the result of an investigative effort by the conservative news outlet consisting of five visits to “harm reduction organizations” and phone calls to more than two dozen such facilities located on the east coast of the United States.
According to the report, “[e]very organization we visited — facilities in Boston, New York City, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Richmond, Va. — included crack pipes in the kits.”
It is difficult to reconcile this @FreeBeacon discovery with Biden’s claim that crack pipe kits would not contain crack pipes.
Americans may reluctantly conclude that the White House was not being fully transparent about Biden’s taxpayer-funded crack pipe kits for drug addicts.
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) May 12, 2022
At one facility, located outside of Richmond, Virginia, employees allegedly told a Beacon reporter who asked for two crack smoking kits that “only one remained in the day’s offerings.”
“To make up for the shortcoming, the employees added a meth pipe along with two ‘snorting kits,’ which include straws, a plastic razor blade to break up drugs, short plastic straws, a small spoon, and a bedazzled playing card to snort drugs off of,” the outlet reported.
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The apparent confirmation of the controversial contents of the so-called “safe smoking kits,” along with photographs of the evidence, comes after the Biden administration and fact-checkers strongly denied claims regarding the distribution of crack pipes earlier this year.
In February, after the Beacon’s initial report suggesting that the Biden administration was distributing crack pipes as part of a $30 million federal “harm reduction” initiative, the White House flatly denied the allegations.
“They were never a part of the kit. It was inaccurate reporting,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a February 9 press briefing.
“A safe smoking kit may contain alcohol swabs, lip balm, other materials to promote hygiene and reduce the transmission of diseases,” Psaki added.
Likewise, USA Today attempted to debunk the claim in a February 11 article entitled “What’s inside a safe smoking kit to stop opioid overdose? No, it’s not a crack pipe.” The fact-check referred only to denials by Psaki and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra to back up its claim that the Beacon’s reporting was false.
Literally anybody could have gone to the Biden admin’s “harm reduction” spots and seen the free crack pipes for themselves.
Every fact checker apparently chose not to. pic.twitter.com/xPI6lQ5Hyt
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 12, 2022
It’s unclear whether the smoking kits obtained by the Beacon were directly affiliated with the Biden administration’s federal “harm reduction initiative.” However, the evidence appears to indicate that at least some of the federal grant money could intentionally or unintentionally be used to distribute smoking materials.
Acknowledging that “the contents of safe-smoking kits vary from one organization to another,” and that some organizations perhaps do not send out kits containing crack pipes, the Beacon stated that “all of the organizations we visited made crack pipes as well as paraphernalia for the use of heroin, cocaine, and crystal methamphetamine readily available without requiring or offering rehabilitation services, suggesting that pipes are included in many if not most of the kits distributed across the country.”
Moreover, all of the facilities that were the subjects of the Beacon’s investigation were run by nonprofits and government agencies of the kind eligible to receive funding under the Biden administration’s grant program.
The organizations failed to respond to the Beacon’s inquiries about whether or not they had applied for government grants, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cited “confidentiality” as a reason for not providing a list of the groups that had applied for government funding.
Meanwhile, in response to the Beacon’s latest report on the alleged taxpayer funding of crack pipes, Psaki again stated that “no federal funding” had gone to the distribution of the pipes or will finance them in future.
“This policy does not allow for crack pipes to be included,” she said during a press briefing last wee. “I would just note that this is a bit of a conspiracy theory that’s been spread out there. It’s not accurate.”
Psaki is asked about the @FreeBeacon and @PatrickHauf proving that the admin funded crack pipes for drug addicts:
“This is a conspiracy theory being spread out there.” pic.twitter.com/bWK8CfUaPY
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 12, 2022
The Biden White House hasn’t been the only government to come under fire in recent months for allegedly moving to make it easier for addicts to use drugs.
Earlier this year, the Canadian federal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reportedly looked into providing a “safe supply” of hard drugs to addicts.
Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Carolyn Bennett told the Commons health committee in March that a so-called “safe supply” model might be appropriate, authorizing provinces to deal hard drugs to addicts so they are not buying more dangerous batches on the black market.
RELATED: Trudeau Cabinet minister wants to give ‘safe’ supply of hard drugs to addicts to combat overdoses
“As in the journey with cannabis, decriminalization still means people go to the street to get their drugs and they are still dying … I am focused on getting safer supplies to the people using drugs,” Bennett said.
“We are looking at all the international models to be able to figure out what is the best way forward as we want to end this national public health crisis,” she added.