A conservative news website alleged in a report on Tuesday that the Joe Biden administration would supply crack pipes to addicts in the coming months as part of a new initiative.

Amid a barrage of criticism from Republicans, the White House has dismissed the allegations, with Press Secretary Jen Psaki calling it “inaccurate reporting.”

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The Washington Free Beacon had reported that the Biden administration had sanctioned a $30 million grant programme for safe drug use, which closed applications on Monday.

The programme, overseen by the US Department of Health and Human Services, will reportedly provide funds to local governments and non-profit organisations to make drug use safer for addicts. Grants given out under the programme will have funds set aside for “smoking kits/supplies,” reported the Washington Free Beacon.

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The Free Beacon claimed that a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to the publication that the aforementioned “smoking kits/supplies” would contain smoking pipes that can be used to smoke crack, crystal methamphetamine, and “any illicit substance.”

By supplying smoking pipes to drug users, the Department of Health and Human Services hopes to nudge drug users to stop using injections, which carry a much higher risk of infection than drug consumption through smoking pipes, said the Free Beacon report.

As per the Free Beacon, the new initiative is also aimed at “advancing racial equity” and grants will be given on a priority basis to applicants serving “underserved communities” including African Americans and the LGBTQ+ community.

That being said, the Biden administration’s decision to provide smoking pipes to drug users is not novel as per the report.

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The Free Beacon reported that Democrat-run cities such as San Francisco and Seattle have already experimented with smoking pipe distribution programmes for drug users, but some local governments have backed away from these initiatives over concerns that they fuel more drug use.

The report comes hours after the US Department of Justice told the Associated Press that it was “evaluating” the possibility of allowing ‘safe injection sites’ for heroin and other narcotics users and was in talks with regulators about “appropriate guardrails.” Safe injection sites, if allowed, would provide a safe haven for drug users and protect them against fatal overdoses.

The Washington Free Beacon, which first made the claim, is a conservative news outlet founded in 2012 by by Michael Goldfarb, Aaron Harrison, and Matthew Continetti as a project of the conservative advocacy group, the Center for American Freedom.