WASHINGTON — Florida’s Republican senators have introduced legislation to prohibit the use of federal funds for distributing pipes, something the White House disputes was ever on the table as part of a drug harm reduction program.
The Cutting off Rampant Access to Crack Kits (CRACK) Act is a response to a Monday report from the conservative Washington Free Beacon that alleged that money from a $30-million grant program could be used to fund the distribution of “crack pipes,” a claim that has been repeatedly rejected by the Biden administration and fact checkers after it sparked furor among conservative lawmakers and pundits.
A Department of Health and Human Services document outlining the grant program lists safe smoking kits as one of the approved items that organizations can purchase with the grants of up to $400,000, along with infectious disease testing kits and syringes.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that the safe smoking kits were never going to include pipes, contrary to the Free Beacon’s report.
“They were never a part of the kit; it was inaccurate reporting. And we wanted to put out information to make that clear,” Psaki said.
“A safe smoking kit may contain alcohol swabs, lip balm, other materials to promote hygiene and reduce the transmission of… diseases like HIV and hepatitis,” she said.
After Psaki’s comments, Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican up for re-election in 2022, said Wednesday that he would introduce legislation to formally codify that the funding couldn’t go toward crack pipes.
The following day, he announced the CRACK Act along with 16 Republican co-sponsors, including fellow Florida Sen. Rick Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
“I am glad the Biden administration acknowledges sending crack pipes to our nation’s addicts is a bad idea,” Rubio said in a statement. “It is pure insanity to think the federal government would fund crack pipe distribution. This legislation will make certain the program can never pay for crack pipes, and given the Biden administration’s position I look forward to their vigorous support.”
Rubio’s bill would amend Biden’s 2021 American Rescue Plan Act to prohibit the use of federal funds to “supply, or distribute pipes, cylindrical objects, or other paraphernalia that can be used to smoke, inhale, or ingest narcotics.’’
Rubio’s legislation is silent on other harm reduction strategies, such as needle exchange programs. The University of Miami is home to the IDEA Exchange, a harm reduction program which has been providing needle exchange services since 2016. In 2019, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation to empower Florida counties to launch needle exchange programs.
Rubio’s office did not respond to a question about needle exchange programs.
In the wake of this week’s controversy, the Biden administration has repeatedly rebuffed the suggestion that pipes were ever intended to be part of the safe smoking kits. The Daily Beast reported Thursday that the Department of Health and Human Services never affirmed to the Free Beacon the inclusion of pipes but rather declined to specify the contents of the safe smoking kits.
However, the liberal-leaning Drug Policy Alliance, which has pushed for a less punitive approach to federal drug policy, accused the Biden administration of backpedaling to pacify the political right to the detriment of its harm reduction goals by leaving pipes out of kits.
The group said on Twitter that the phrase “crack pipe” was intended to evoke racism, but it argued that providing smoking equipment, such as pipes, promotes inhalation over injection for other drugs, which would reduce the spread of HIV among other injection-related risks.
“Backtracking on providing critical evidence-based resources that could greatly improve the health of people who consume drugs through smoking is a huge missed opportunity that will disproportionately be felt in Black and indigenous communities, especially as these communities have experienced some of the sharpest increases in overdose deaths involving fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine,” said Kassandra Frederique, the alliance’s executive director, said in a Wednesday night statement.
