More than a few eyebrows were raised earlier this week when the Washington Free Beacon reported that a $30 million grant program was going to fund “smoking kits” for addicts that included “crack pipes.”
When the Free Beacon asked an HHS spokesman about the pipes, they confirmed it. “[T]hese kits will provide pipes for users to smoke crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and “any illicit substance,” said the spokesperson.
Now the White House — strangely — is calling it “blatant misinformation.” In other words, the Free Beacon shouldn’t have believed the government spokesperson when he confirmed that the government was going into the head shop business.
One suspects that if the New York Times or Washington Post had broken the story, the response would have been very different.
After publication of a report on the funding, HHS backtracked in a Tuesday statement that labeled the story “blatant misinformation.” When asked to explain what part of the story was incorrect, a spokesman said the story is “misleading and misinformed” but declined to provide any information to refute the report.
After [HHS Secretary Xavier] Becerra’s Wednesday statement, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said crack pipes were “never a part of the kit.” The program, however, does not explicitly state what is included in any funded kit. In fact, an HHS spokesman told the Free Beacon that it “does not specify the kits’ elements” but “only the parameters.”
The story may indeed be “misleading and misinformed” but whose fault is that? An HHS flunkie in the press relations office shouldn’t be talking to the media if he is going to give out “misleading and misinformed” information on stories.
But HHS initially defended the whole concept of “smoking kits” for crack addicts.
“Unsafe smoking practices can lead to open sores, burns and cuts on the lips, and can increase the risk of infection among people who smoke drugs,” said agency spokesman Chris Garrett. “Safe smoking kits have been identified to reduce the spread of disease.”
Republican senator Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) said Wednesday she would put a hold on funding for the program until it was modified to ban spending on drug paraphernalia. She said the White House denials mean nothing given the language in the government funding document remain unchanged.
“U.S. taxpayer dollars should not be used to fund vending machines for crack pipes,” Blackburn said. “Today’s claims by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Secretary Becerra mean nothing given that the HHS-approved FY 2022 Harm Reduction Program Grant specifically allows for government-funded smoking kits.”
Is this the result of stupidity or arrogance? It can’t be stupidity because you’d have to be brain dead not to know that giving this paraphernalia to people is dangerous and reckless.
Which means we’re left with arrogance. Some left-wing advocacy group probably came up with the idea to give crack pipes to people so they don’t get burns in the mouth quite as easily, although what goes into the crack pipes to smoke will kill them. Besides, the concept is so…so…REVOLUTIONARY! And what left-wing nuts don’t like to think of themselves advocating something “revolutionary” from time to time?
The Department of Health and Human Services is lying about this program. It wasn’t misinformation. It wasn’t “misleading.” It was exactly as reported and HHS changed the parameters of the program once the Free Beacon exposed it.
Source: PJ Media
