The Biden administration has created a multi-million dollar grant
program geared towards reducing drug harm and saving lives.
Our KSAT Trust Index Team received a question from a viewer asking if a portion of that money is going towards crack pipes.
We initially marked that claim as “true” on our KSAT Trust Index, but now, we’re saying “be careful” with that claim.
The
Harm Reduction Program Grant offers $30 million in funding to prevent drug overdoses and help control the spread of infectious diseases. The money will go to education, counseling, treatments and supplies. But after it was widely reported that some of the money could go to pay for drug pipes, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and ONDCP Director Rahul Gupta
released a statement on Wednesday saying, “no federal funding will be used directly or through subsequent reimbursement of grantees to put pipes in safe smoking kits.”
In addition to providing funding for prevention programs, education, and counseling, here is what the Harm Reduction Program Grant says about what could be covered in the efforts to reduce harm from drug use:
- Harm reduction vending machine(s), including stock for machines;
- Infectious diseases testing kits (HIV, HBV, HCV, etc.);
- Medication lock boxes;
- FDA-approved overdose reversal medication (as well as higher dosages now approved by FDA);
- Safe sex kits, including PrEP resources and condoms;
- Safe smoking kits/supplies;
- Screening for infectious diseases (HIV, sexually transmitted infections, viral hepatitis);
- Sharps disposal and medication disposal kits;
- Substance test kits, including test strips for fentanyl and other synthetic drugs;
- Syringes to prevent and control the spread of infectious diseases;
- Vaccination services (hepatitis A, hepatitis B vaccination); and
- Wound care management supplies.
Some safe smoking kits provided by non-profit organizations do include glass pipes used for smoking drugs.
One local nonprofit official said while they haven’t received any grant money from the federal government, these kind of programs actually save lives.
“Less use, less burning, less spread of disease. That is what we’re trying to accomplish,” said Gavin Rogers, executive director for
Corazon San Antonio, a nonprofit that provides support for the marginalized and those struggling with homelessness.
Rogers said the clean needles, pipes and outreach are all evidence-based approaches that work.
“It is critical. This is (a) life-saving measure,” Rogers said. “A holistic harm reduction program is more than just needle exchange and cooking kits. It’s about policy and advocacy. It’s about street outreach. It’s about case management and getting people into homes, and it’s about peer recovery, counseling and education to educate those clients in safe use, but also ways and forms of recovery.”
