No money for drug pipes: Feds douse social media firestorm
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and BEATRICE DUPUY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration says a government grant program to help prevent additional harm to people who use illicit drugs will not pay for safer pipes to smoke crack or meth. The White House scrambled Wednesday to douse a firestorm from the political right, some of it with racial undertones. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and White House drug policy adviser Rahul Gupta in a statement that no taxpayer money will be used for pipes. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that was never the intention and blamed “inaccurate reporting” for a criticism that was cresting online.
