50 Cent Reacts to Biden Administration Reportedly Handing Out Crack Pipes to Addicts
50 Cent has reacted to a plan from President Joe Biden's administration to reportedly distribute crack pipes to drug addicts.
On Wednesday (Feb. 9), the Power franchise co-creator jumped on his Instagram page and shared a screenshot of a news report that reads, “Biden administration to fund handing out crack to addicts to improve 'racial equity'.”
In the caption, 50 wrote, "OK, I don’t understand what’s going on now," along with a man thinking emoji. “Let’s just give them some crack[.] Everybody loves CRACK. SMH,” he concluded with a man facepalming emoji.
Unfortunately, 50 is reacting to misleading reports that claim that the Biden Administration was reportedly securing a $30 million grant to hand out crack pipes to avid crack users. But he wasn’t the only one to believe this incorrect information. On social media, many people were duped by the false headlines and stories as well.
According to the fact-checking website Snopes.com, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Harm Reduction Grant Program does provide safer smoking kits to existing drug users with the priority given to historically underserved communities. But the goal of the grant is to wean addicts off drugs and to stop the spread of diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C.
While the grant description requires the supply of smoking kits, which is part of a harm reduction strategy, those kits represent just one of several sub-components of an expanded list of requirements for grant recipients. Additionally, harm reduction programs are accepted as part of the public health program in America and are being enacted in states like California, Texas, Florida and Arizona.
Meanwhile, a rep for the United States Department of Health and Human Services slammed news outlets' "blatant misinformation" about their grant program. According to the New York Post on Wednesday, the spokesperson said, “The Harm Reduction Grant...is a grant program designed to help Americans, who are struggling with substance abuse, to stay healthy and safe, prevent overdose death, and find pathways into evidence-based treatments. Like all programs that use federal funding, these grants must adhere to relevant federal, state and local laws or regulations."
At a media briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that crack pipes “were never a part of the kit.”
“It was inaccurate reporting and we wanted to put out information to make that clear,” she reportedly said. Psaki added that the kits could include hygienic items like lip balm, alcohol swabs and other sanitary materials to stop the transmission of diseases like HIV and hepatitis.
You can read the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services statement about their grant program on theshaderoom.com. The statement is also in the caption of their IG post below.