A federal grant program that was rumored to have, in part, provided “safer” pipes for smoking crack and crystal meth has reportedly been jettisoned.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration would have used taxpayer money to distribute “safe smoking kits and supplies,” but Republican backlash helped to tank the proposal.
“No federal funding will be used directly or through subsequent reimbursement of grantees to put pipes in safe smoking kits,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a joint statement with White House adviser Rahul Gupta.
Despite its demise, White House press secretary Jen Psaki spoke in defense of the proposed plan, saying it would have funded test kits for infectious diseases, syringe disposal containers, medication lockboxes and overdose prevention drugs.
Psaki in a separate statement said there was never any intention for the plan to pay for drug pipes, calling stories that said otherwise “inaccurate reporting.”
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