Fact Check Assessment of the Article Published by The Washington Free Beacon

Fact check Assignment
Biden Initiative Funds Drug Overdose Prevention, Not ‘Crack Pipes’
Name
Course Code and Section Number
Introduction to American Government
 
Fact check Assignment
           On February 7, 2020, The Washington Free Beacon published an article, “Biden Admin to Fun Crack Pipe Distribution to Advance ‘Racial Equity’ written by Patrick Hauf that attacks President Joe Biden’s administration’s efforts to address the American “substance use and overdose epidemic" (Hauf, 2022). As a response to Hauf’s (2022) misleading article, fact-checking website FactCheck.org published an article by Brea Jones, entitled "Biden Initiative Funds Drug Overdose Prevention, Not 'Crack Pipes.' This article provides facts about the $30 million grant program that was launched in December 2021, dubbed the Harm Reduction Grant Program whose aim was to facilitate the distribution of $10 million annually over the next three years by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) (Jones, 2022). According to the Biden Administration, the grant would allow the SAMHSA to support community-based drug overdose prevention, syringe services, and other harm reduction programs through evidence-based practices recommended by the Department of Health and Human Services (Jones, 2022). While the funds in the proposed program were to be used in procuring safe smoking kits and treatment to reverse overdose among the addicted, the Free Beacon article inconsistently reported that the HHS spokesman meant that the “kits will provide pipes” for addicted individuals to smoke crystal methamphetamine, crack cocaine, and other illicit drugs (Jones, 2022). The author of the Factcheck.org article conducted a thorough fact check on the controversial issues that were spread through social media platforms as a result of the Free Beacon article. By conducting research and quoting both the HHS and the White House, the fact-checker cleared the controversy that had largely been circulated by the Free Beacon article.
           The fact-checker makes an argument that the statements made by the Free Beacon article are wrong and inconsistent based on the facts from the White House and the HHS. First, the Harm Reduction program that was launched in December 2021 does not include crack pipes in the safe smoking kits. Instead, the article provides the intended purpose of the safe smoking and addiction treatment program contrary to what has been reported in several media reports, including Newsweek. It is after the fact check that Newsweek changed its February 9 headline to “Why the Biden Administration Wants to Hand Out ‘Safe Smoking’ Kits” from “Why the Biden Admin Is Handing Out Free Crack Pipes (Joe, 2022).” Another argument that the fact-checker presents is the question of racial equity and drug policies. The Free Beacon article erroneously identifies that Biden’s administration is targeting the program to advance equity among minorities. However, as Jones’ (2022) article quotes studies earlier conducted, the white communities are most impacted by the issue of drug addiction...