Joe Manchin) have introduced bills to ban federal dollars from going toward smoking paraphernalia and sterile syringes. Several other Republican lawmakers (and one Democrat, West Virginia Sen. This week a Republican senator threatened to force a government shutdown over funding for harm-reduction organizations. The Biden administration scrambled to assure the public that it wasn’t spending funds on pipes, but the outrage roared on. Smoking kits mostly include sanitary tools like alcohol wipes and rubber mouthpieces sometimes they include a glass pipe itself.Ĭonservative media outlets had a field day, with headlines both catchy and misleading: “Uncle Sam to Hand Out Crack Pipes,” one Fox News chyron blared. Contaminated paraphernalia itself can promote disease and injury, so a central tenet of “harm reduction” efforts is to help people who are not ready to stop using drugs at least avoid additional risks. ![]() Some of the money was to be available for syringes and “safer smoking kits” for people who smoke illicit drugs such as crack and meth. Last week, conservatives seized on a single line in a $30 million package for organizations that help prevent disease, injury, and death in people with addiction. A conservative furor over a federal grant to help address the nation’s skyrocketing overdose death toll now has advocates concerned it could harm public health services for people with addiction.
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