Nurse Who Flagged Trump Assassin in Ukraine Says He Wanted to Kill Most...
The Problem With ABC News' Statement Surrounding the Allegations That They Rigged the...
MSNBC Analyst Stretches the Bounds of Sanity Trying to Debunk 'Haitians Eating the...
Former CNN Host Blows a Gasket Over the Latest Trump Assassination Attempt
Rumors, Whispers and Gut Feelings
Class Action Scams
When It Comes to Tech Policy, Biden and Harris Put America Last
PolitiFact Throws Its 200th 'Pants on Fire' Tag at Donald Trump
Another Month, Another Trump Assassination Attempt
Trump’s America First Policies Protect Farmers
Reparations: Unconstitutional and Divisive -- Is Kamala Harris Backing These Giveaways?
It Is Time to Deal With the Debt
Automakers Won’t Kill the Radio Star
A Movie Mirrors the Stranger-Than-Fiction Reality of Civil Asset Forfeiture
Election Integrity or Defund DC
Tipsheet

GOP Lawmakers Introduce 'HUNTER' Act to Prohibit Taxpayer Money from Funding Crack Pipes

AP Photo/Matt York, File

Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert (CO) and Dan Bishop (N.C.) introduced legislation to ban the government from using federal funds to pay for crack pipes or other drug materials after a recent report revealed that the Biden administration would be giving "smoking kits" that include free crack pipes to drug addicts as part of a $30 million grant program.

Advertisement

The Halting the Use of Narcotics Through Effective Recovery Act, dubbed as the HUNTER Act in reference to President Joe Biden's son, who has struggled with drug addiction, was introduced this week to counter the administration's efforts to fund drug use.

"Our tax dollars should not be funding the death and destruction of crack addicts," Boebert told Fox News Digital. "Democrats are always putting the American taxpayer last and Republicans just want to give people in need a good job. Democrats want to give them crack pipes."

Bishop touted the bill while also slamming Democratic drug policies – such as safe injection sites, needle trade-ins and safe smoking kits – and explained that progressive drug programs look to "remove all stigma" from drug use when "stigma is not a bad thing."

"The HUNTER Act is a means of encapsulating how ridiculous public policy can become when it's in the hands of the woke," Bishop told the news outlet.

The controversy surrounding the government's alleged funding of crack pipes ensued after The Washington Free Beacon reported that the Department of Health and Human Services would oversee a $30 million "harm reduction" grant program as part of the administration's efforts to advance "racial equity."

The program would be funded through the American Rescue Plan and is designed to curb drug-related health risks. Some supplies included in the grant program are fentanyl test strips, syringes and "smoking kits/supplies."

Advertisement

HHS told The Free Beacon that the pipes will be provided to drug users in order to reduce the risk of infection when smoking substances with glass pipes.

The outlet also noted that additional efforts to distribute safe smoking kits did not provide pipes. Instead, such kits included mouthpieces to prevent glass cuts, rubber bands to prevent burns and filters to reduce the risk of disease.

The Biden administration earlier this week slammed the Free Beacon report as "misinformation."

"[Crack pipes] were never a part of the kit; it was inaccurate reporting," Psaki said at a press briefing. "And we wanted to put out information to make that clear."

Psaki said safe smoking kits could include "alcohol swabs, lip balm, other materials to promote hygiene and reduce the transmission of diseases like HIV and hepatitis."

And in a Wednesday press release, HHS secretary Xavier Becerra and Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Rahul Gupta said that "no federal funding will be used directly or through subsequent reimbursement of grantees to put pipes in safe smoking kits."

But The Free Beacon stands by its reporting despite pushback from officials.

Advertisement

The HUNTER Act comes after the Cutting off Rampant Access to Crack Kits (CRACK) Act was proposed by Senate Republicans on Thursday to prevent funds from the American Rescue Plan from paying for drug paraphernalia, and the bipartisan Preventing Illicit Paraphernalia for Exchange Systems Act, or PIPES Act, that was introduced Friday by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) to block federal funds from being used to purchase and distribute tools used to take drugs, such as crack pipes and syringes.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement