{"id":1943044,"date":"2023-06-02T16:45:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-02T20:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/as-fentanyl-deaths-spike-la-hands-out-crack-pipes\/"},"modified":"2023-06-02T16:47:24","modified_gmt":"2023-06-02T20:47:24","slug":"as-fentanyl-deaths-spike-la-hands-out-crack-pipes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/as-fentanyl-deaths-spike-la-hands-out-crack-pipes\/","title":{"rendered":"LA distributes crack pipes as Fentanyl deaths rise."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fas-fentanyl-deaths-spike-la-hands-out-crack-pipes%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1943044&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Los Angeles County Hands Out Crack Pipes Amid Spike in Fentanyl Deaths<\/h2>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>County teams are passing out glass pipes for smoking opioids, meth, and crack to drug addicts on the street, the <em>Los Angeles Times<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2023-05-30\/desperate-to-stop-fentanyl-deaths-officials-are-distributing-drug-pipes\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>They also dispense needles, wipes, and medicine for treating overdoses. The supplies are called &#8220;harm reduction,&#8221; and officials <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2023-05-30\/desperate-to-stop-fentanyl-deaths-officials-are-distributing-drug-pipes\">argue<\/a> that it&#8217;s safer to smoke the drugs than inject them with potentially contaminated needles and fentanyl.<\/p>\n<p>Los Angeles County increased its spending on harm reduction from $5.4 million to $31.5 million this year.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The report comes as fentanyl overdose deaths <a href=\"https:\/\/sf.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2023-03\/2022_OCME%20Overdose%20Report_0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">accelerate<\/a> in California and state Democrats in April <a href=\"https:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB44\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blocked<\/a> two bills that would have strengthened penalties for drug dealers who kill or seriously injure someone with fentanyl or are caught with enough of the drug to kill thousands of people.<\/p>\n<p>A <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/yes-safe-smoking-kits-include-free-crack-pipes-we-know-because-we-got-them\/\">investigation<\/a> last year found several Democratic cities hand out crack pipes despite the Biden administration claiming its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/as-fentanyl-deaths-spike-la-hands-out-crack-pipes\/\" title=\"LA distributes crack pipes as Fentanyl deaths rise.\">multimillion-dollar harm reduction program<\/a> doesn&#8217;t <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-faces-criticism-for-defending-president-trump\/\" title=\"DOJ faces criticism for defending President Trump\">spend taxpayer dollars<\/a> on drug paraphernalia. Every organization the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> visited, including in Boston, New York City, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Richmond, included crack pipes in their kits.<\/p>\n<p>A February 2022 <em>Free Beacon<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/biden-admin-to-fund-crack-pipe-distribution-to-advance-racial-equity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a> found that a $30 million harm-reduction program would fund the distribution of &#8220;safe-smoking kits,&#8221; which generally include crack pipes.<\/p>\n<h3>Community Activist Criticizes the Move<\/h3>\n<p>One community activist, Manuel Campito, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2023-05-30\/desperate-to-stop-fentanyl-deaths-officials-are-distributing-drug-pipes\">said<\/a> handing out pipes to drug users is comparable to assisted suicide.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I wouldn\u2019t get pipes to give them out myself,&#8221; Campito said. &#8220;You know Dr. Kevorkian assisted suicide? That\u2019s pretty much what it is.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Residents in Los Angeles&#8217;s Downtown District Have Mixed Opinions<\/h3>\n<p>Residents in Los Angeles&#8217;s downtown district that is hardest hit by the drug epidemic don&#8217;t all agree that handing out drug supplies is the solution, the <em>Los Angeles Times<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2023-05-30\/desperate-to-stop-fentanyl-deaths-officials-are-distributing-drug-pipes\">reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>&#8220;But the pipes tap a nerve, particularly in Skid Row, home to as many as 1,500 homeless people with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/opioid-lawsuits-in-nyc-l-a-move-forward\/\" title=\"Opioid lawsuits in NYC, L.A. move forward\">substance abuse disorder<\/a> and a wide array of drug recovery and prevention groups that serve homeless people throughout the city.&#8221;<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>&#8220;The 50-block downtown district saw the worst of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-spending-30m-on-crack-pipe-distribution-to-advance-racial-equity\/\" title=\"Biden Spending M on Crack Pipe Distribution to Advance \u2019Racial Equity'\">1980s crack epidemic<\/a>, and its converted flophouses and apartments are home to many residents who graduated from 12-step or other abstinence-based programs.&#8221;<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Los Angeles County is distributing glass pipes for smoking opioids, meth, and crack to drug addicts on the street, along with needles, wipes, and medicine for treating overdoses. This creative solution comes amid a spike in fentanyl deaths.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1613,"featured_media":1943046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[7271,4498,17842,10250,10977,5319],"class_list":["post-1943044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon","tag-crack","tag-deaths","tag-distributes","tag-fentanyl","tag-pipes","tag-rise"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1943044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1613"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1943044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1943044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1943046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1943044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1943044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1943044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}