The Biden administration has denied false reports that it is distributing free crack pipes in the name of “racial equity.”
Conservative media outlet, the Washington Free Beacon, reported the “crack pipes” were part of a $30 million public health grant package.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services allegedly told the publication that these kits will “provide pipes for users to smoke crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and any illicit substance.”
“These comments are misleading and misinformed,” an HHS spokesperson told McClatchy News in a statement. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the kits “may contain alcohol swabs, lip balm, other materials to promote hygiene and reduce the transmission of diseases like HIV and hepatitis.”
In the media, the image projected is often that Black Americans are the communities most affected by crack cocaine.
According to federal surveys, most crack users were and still are white. However, Black Americans were sent to federal prison nearly seven times more often for crack offenses from 1991 to 2016. Between 1991 and 1995, more than 13 Black Americans were imprisoned for every white defendant locked behind bars and were also sentenced to an average of 40 months longer than their white counterparts.
The Biden administration insists its focus is on saving lives.
“No federal funding will be used directly or through subsequent reimbursement of grantees to put pipes in safe smoking kits,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and the Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Dr. Rahul Gupta. “The goal of harm reduction is to save lives.”
