Democrat Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia teamed up with a Republican senator from Florida Marco Rubio to give a lethal blow to Biden’s socialist agenda.
The newly introduced bipartisan bill will stop the government from using taxpayers’ money to buy different crack pipes and syringes to feed illegal drugs to addicts.
Biden stopped helping people take illegal drugs
The Preventing Illicit Paraphernalia for Exchange Systems Act, or the PIPES Act, would not let the federal government use federal funds to buy different tools that can be used to inject illegal drugs in affected patients.
Manchin acknowledged more than 100,000 Americans died of the drug epidemic between April 2020 and April 2021.
While he claimed this is a “heartbreaking” issue that should be addressed immediately, using taxpayers’ money to buy paraphernalia is not the solution.
Let’s make THIS👇🏻 count! #NotOurTaxPayerMoney https://t.co/qqAJlPcJuN
— Sophia (@LTRNForever) February 12, 2022
Likewise, Rubio stated everyone is aware of people who struggle with drug addiction and many Americans have lost their loved ones to this curse.
However, just giving out paraphernalia to inhale illegal drugs is not the solution to the problem.
According to the press release issued by the senators, the bill, if passed, will maintain the bipartisan consensus that has been established over time: the injection of illegal drugs into addicts should not be subsidized by federal funds.
However, the bill has an exception that will allow this funding in the case of extreme scenarios when injection drug use can trigger hepatitis and HIV outbreak.
The press release stated any procurement, supply, and distribution of cylindrical objects, pipes, and other paraphernalia objects that could encourage inhaling narcotics must be stopped.
Health department approved massive funding to inject narcotics in drug addicts
In December last year, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a $30 million grant to tackle drug addiction.
This money would have been used in harm reduction by giving paraphernalia to addicts, which aims to prevent overdose deaths and curb other health risks.
Once Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity raised alarms about the grant, the White House tried to defend its decision. Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said crack pipes were “never a part” of safe-smoking kits.
The Biden administration is in cleanup mode because they got caught funding crack pipe distribution. There’s never anything safe about giving drug paraphernalia to addicts.https://t.co/26tzijLBMb
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) February 10, 2022
According to her, these kits include lip balm, alcohol swabs, and other materials that could reduce the transmission of deadly diseases like hepatitis and HIV.
This also prompted the HHS to issue its own statement, noting federal funding will not directly be used to include crack pipes in safe smoking kits.
Before introducing the PIPES Act, Manchin and other senators wrote a letter to HHS on Thursday and scrutinized them regarding the grant program.
According to the letter, some groups centered around harm reduction have pipes in the kits for safe smoking; the HHS does not specifically mention these funds would not be used to buy pipes.
