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[Editor's note: This article has been updated after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stipulated that federal funding would not be used to include pipes in the safe smoking kits to be distributed as part of a substance abuse harm reduction program. As a result of that newly-stipulated detail, Snopes has changed its rating from Mostly False to Outdated.] In February 2022, right-leaning outlets and leading Republicans reported breathlessly that the Biden administration had plans to fund the distribution of crack pipes in order to advance the cause of racial equity. On Feb. 8, for example, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, said on Twitter that the administration is going to be sending crack pipes and meth pipes, targeting minority communities in this country, calling the supposed plan insane. On Feb. 7, JustTheNews.com published an article with the headline Biden administration funding crack pipe distribution, saying itβs needed for racial equity. For its part, ChicksOnTheRight.com went with the headline Biden Admin Spending $30M To Give Crack Pipes, Drug Kits To Addicts For 'Advancing Racial Equity' and wrote: Meanwhile, The Blaze wrote: Collectively, these articles and social media posts gave readers a grossly misleading and reductive presentation of what was a real substance abuse harm reduction grant overseen by the Biden administration in early 2022. As such, Snopes originally issued a rating of Mostly False. Briefly, that rating was based on the following assessment, reproduced here from the original fact check: However, after this fact check was published, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Feb. 9 provided Snopes a statement which stipulated that federal funding would not be used to include pipes in smoking kits as part of the harm reduction plan. As a result, the accurate component of early news reports β that safe smoking kits typically contain glass pipes β was no longer applicable, and that initial wave of outrage was rendered outdated. As such, Snopes has changed its rating from Mostly False to Outdated. The document alluded to in the news reports was a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the 2022 Harm Reduction Program Grant, issued by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The document can be read in full here. In order to place the safer smoking kit component of the grant in its proper context, and demonstrate that it was just one of 20 items set out in the NOFO, the following is the relevant section of the 75-page document, in full, with numbered items, abridged for the sake of brevity: It's important to note that safe smoking kits typically consist of several other items, including: a rubber mouthpieces for glass pipes, in order to prevent burns and cuts; brass screens, in order to filter out potentially harmful contaminants or debris; as well as disinfectant wipes. As such, they are a logical component of a broader substance abuse strategy of harm reduction. While the reporting around this document focused almost exclusively on crack pipes, it could just as easily have focused on the infectious disease testing, naloxone provision, or even sterilized syringe distribution required of grant recipients. Disapproving news articles zeroed in on the safe smoking kits not because of the prominence given to them in the grant description itself, but simply because it allowed them to include crack pipes in their headlines. However, as we have already mentioned, a HHS statement provided to Snopes on Feb. 9 stipulated that pipes would not be included in those safe smoking kits: The second major misrepresentation in the news coverage related to the role of racial equity in the grant program. To be clear, the Biden administration has not stated that the purpose of the Harm Reduction Program Grant in general, or the reference to safe smoking kits in particular, is to advance racial equity. Lest there be any confusion over the stated purpose of the harm reduction program, and the grants, the document set that out clearly at the very outset, as follows: So while JustTheNews.com, for example, wrote in its headline that the Biden administration had said crack pipe distribution was needed for racial equity, in reality it had said no such thing. What the HHS document did say about racial equity was as follows. Every applicant for the harm reduction grant is required to provide a two-page behavioral disparity impact statement, which roughly speaking, sets out in advance, details about the population which the grant applicant serves, including individuals from historically underserved communities including racial, ethnic, sexual, and gender minority groups. The document further states that: The priority populations for this program are underserved communities that are greatly impacted by SUD [substance use disorders] and clarifies that underserved communities is as defined in Executive Order 13985 β Biden's first executive order, signed on Jan. 20, 2021. In E.O. 13985, Biden affirmed: E.O. 13985 also defined underserved communities as including: Finally, the HHS document stated that, in addition to assessing the overall strengths of each application for a grant, it would prioritize funding for programs which address the needs of underserved communities. In conclusion, the HHS document clearly stated that the purpose of the grant program was to support harm reduction services, and that one of 20 concrete ways of doing that was with safer smoking kits. It also set out that in pursuing that overarching harm reduction mission, it would prioritize programs which serve historically under-resourced groups. Subsequently, after this fact check was first published, HHS stipulated that federal funding would not be used to include pipes in any safe smoking kits. This article has been updated based on new information. The original version was last archived on Feb. 9, 2022.
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