Florida sues Biden administration over crack pipe controversy: ‘Misguided, reckless policies’
Moody says DOJ, HHS ignored FOIA requests for over year
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FIRST ON FOX — Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is suing the Biden administration for failing to provide evidence that taxpayer dollars are not being used to purchase crack pipes for drug addicts.
In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday, Moody asked a federal court to compel the Justice Department and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to comply with outstanding Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for documentation related to possible federal grant funds used to promote drug use through Safe Smoking Kits. Some of those kits reportedly included crack pipes and other drug-related paraphernalia, even though the Biden administration has said crack pipes are not being distributed this way.
The FOIA requests were made more than a year ago. According to federal statue, the agencies were required to respond within 20 working days of receipt, and that deadline was March 10, 2022.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is suing the Biden administration for failing to provide information about its Safe Smoking Kits. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Moody claims that the agencies have so far refused to provide any requested documentation, prompting her to take legal action.
"If Biden is using your tax dollars to buy crack pipes for drug addicts, you have the right to know," Moody said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Our country is in the grips of a drug overdose crisis, and the Biden administration is stonewalling our requests and keeping the public in the dark about so many misguided, reckless policies. We are taking them to court to get answers for the American people," she said.
In February 2022, President Biden announced a $30 million federal grant program that would reimburse local governments and entities that provide safe "smoking kits," in the name of advancing racial equity and safer drug use for addicts.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Biden has been accused of encouraging illicit drug use by providing a range of paraphernalia in the administration's safe smoking kits. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The grant document references Biden's executive order 13985 titled "Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government."
Last year, the Washington Free Beacon reported that those kits would provide users with the ability to smoke "any illicit substance," including crack cocaine and crystal methamphetamine. The story also noted existing smoking kit programs in cities such as San Francisco, Annapolis, Maryland, and Seattle all include smoking pipes.
The White House and HHS repeatedly denied that crack pipes would be distributed on the taxpayer dime, but the Beacon subsequently reported that harm-reduction organizations in five East Coast cities – New York City, Washington, D.C., Boston, Baltimore and Richmond, Virginia – all included crack pipes in their so-called safe smoking kits.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In the legal filing, Moody said Florida has exhausted all of its administrative remedies to obtain the requested information.
WHITE HOUSE CITES ‘EMERGING THREAT’ OF ‘TRANQ,’ TRANQ-LACED FENTANYL
Moody filed a FOIA request seeking more information about the smoking kits, but received nothing from the administration. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The complaint states that the Biden administration's actions harm Florida by continuously denying the state access to documents to which it has a legal right.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"This harm is irreparable because no monetary damages can compensate Florida for this loss. Florida will continue to be irreparably harmed unless and until Defendants are compelled to conform their conduct to the requirements of the law."
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The DOJ and HHS did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News Digital's Jon Brown and Sam Dorman contributed to this report.