The Biden administration’s “harm reduction” program funds a Texas organization that distributes crack pipes, possibly violating state law, according to an investigation by The Dallas Express.
Since last year, the El Paso Alliance has received nearly $800,000 from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of the nation’s first federal harm reduction program. The group distributes “smoke kits” to drug addicts and told a reporter from The Dallas Express that such kits include a “small, cylinder glass.”
The distribution and possession of drug paraphernalia in Texas is banned under Health and Safety Code 481.002(17).
“A person commits an offense if the person knowingly or intentionally uses or possesses with intent to use drug paraphernalia … to inject, ingest, inhale, or otherwise introduce into the human body a controlled substance in violation of this chapter,” the law reads.
The HHS harm reduction program listed “smoking kits” as equipment eligible for purchase with federal grants. However, top HHS officials and then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki previously denied reports that such kits would include crack pipes, as The Dallas Express covered at the time.
An official for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which oversees the