A grant program funded by the Biden administration will furnish syringes and “safe smoking kits” among other items as a means to advancing equity.
The deadline for the $30 million program is Monday, with the Department of Health and Human Services distributing funds to nonprofit groups and local governments. Among the items the grant will pay for are syringes and “safe smoking kits/supplies.”
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The kits will allow users to smoke crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and other illicit substances, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
The Washington Examiner reached out to HHS for comment.
Both the syringes and the smoking kits are designed to prevent the transmission of infections. One of the priorities for recipients is serving under-resourced populations, including racial, ethnic, sexual, and gender minority groups, aligning with an executive order President Joe Biden signed upon taking office.
During his long run in the U.S. Senate, Biden helped create the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which provided sentences 100 times greater for people possessing crack when compared to the same amount of powder cocaine. The policy was widely criticized as having a disproportionate impact on minority communities, and the Biden administration now backs a bill undoing the disparities.
While some cities, such as Seattle, have distributed smoking kits and syringes to residents in order to facilitate safer drug use, others have banned them. Maryland legislators scrapped a similar plan after getting blowback from black leaders and from law enforcement, the Free Beacon reported.
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The grant program will also provide safe sex kits, screening for infectious diseases, and wound care management supplies to recipients.
