(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) In what surely has to rank high in the pantheon of woke madness, the Biden administration has allocated $30 million to fund the distribution of crack pipes to drug addicts as part of its plan to advance “racial equity.”
The $30 million grant program, which will begin in May, will provide funds to nonprofits and local governments to help make drug use safer for addicts, reported the Free Beacon.
The grant will be overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services, with funds being used to provide “smoking kits/supplies.” Kits distributed under the grant will include pipes for users to smoke crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and “any illicit substance.”
The radical program could have been a real boon for Biden’s son, Hunter, who has long struggled with an addiction to crack cocaine, although he probably never had difficulties securing crack pipes.
Similar to needle-exchange programs that have grown popular in cities controlled by leftist politicians, the free crack pipes and smoking kits are meant to reduce potential health hazards associated with drug use, other than the drugs degrading users physical and mental health.
In the case of crack pipes, HHS officials said the freebies aim to reduce the risk of infection when smoking substances with glass pipes, which can lead to problems through cuts and sores.
Other “harm reduction” equipment that qualifies for funding include syringes, vaccinations, disease screenings, condoms, and fentanyl strips. The grant program will last three years and includes 25 awards of up to $400,000.
Because leftists must view everything through racial and cultural lenses, the free crack program will give special priority funding to agencies that treat a majority of “underserved communities,” including African Americans and “LGBTQ+ persons,” in lockstep with Biden’s executive order on “advancing racial equity.”
In anything approaching a sane world, the assumption that black and LGBTQ people need to be prioritized to receive free crack pipes should be considered inherently racist. In the Biden administration, it’s somehow considered racially equitable.
While some notoriously leftist cities like San Francisco and Seattle have created their own free drug paraphernalia programs, and New York City has established de facto drug havens, other cities are fighting the trend.
Sgt. Clyde Boatwright, president of the Maryland Fraternal Order of Police, said government resources are better spent on preventing drug abuse rather than making it safer.
“If we look at more of a preventive campaign as opposed to an enabling campaign, I think it will offer an opportunity to have safer communities with fewer people who are dependable on these substances,” Boatwright told the Free Beacon.
