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By Bethany Blankley (The Heart Sq.)
Florida Lawyer Basic Ashley Moody is suing two federal companies for failing to answer Freedom of Info requests filed over a 12 months in the past. The FOIA requests relate to a Biden administration program that allegedly used taxpayer cash to buy crack pipes for drug addicts, she stated.
In February 2022, Florida despatched FOIA requests to the U.S. Division of Justice and U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies asking for data about the usage of federal grant funds getting used to advertise drug use via protected smoking kits, a few of which reportedly included crack pipes and different drug-related paraphernalia.
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Over a 12 months later, neither company responded to the FOIA requests and Moody sued.
The lawsuit states that the federal companies “didn’t course of and make a willpower concerning Florida’s February 9, 2022 FOIA requests inside the statutory time restrict and are unlawfully withholding data requested by Florida underneath 5 U.S.C. § 552.”
By not responding to Florida’s request, the companies had been inflicting irreparable hurt, the lawsuit states, as a result of they’re “constantly denying Florida entry to paperwork that it has a authorized proper to” and “no financial damages can compensate Florida for this loss.”
“Florida will proceed to be irreparably harmed until and till Defendants are compelled to evolve their conduct to the necessities of the legislation,” the grievance states.
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The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in U.S. District Court docket for the Northern District of Florida Tallahassee Division, asks the court docket to order the companies “to conduct a seek for any and all data attentive to Florida’s FOIA requests and to show that they employed search strategies moderately calculated to uncover all data attentive to the requests.” It additionally requests the court docket to get them organized to “produce, by a date sure, any and all non-exempt data attentive to Florida’s FOIA requests and an index of any responsive data withheld underneath declare of exemption.” It additionally requests the court docket to enjoin the companies from “persevering with to withhold any and all non-exempt data attentive to Florida’s FOIA requests” and reimburse Florida’s prices and affordable legal professional’s charges.
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“If Biden is utilizing your tax {dollars} to purchase crackpipes for drug addicts, you could have the proper to know,” Moody stated in a press release. “Our nation is within the grips of a drug overdose disaster, and the Biden administration is stonewalling our requests and retaining the general public in the dead of night about so many misguided, reckless insurance policies. We’re taking them to court docket to get solutions for the American individuals.”
In December 2021, the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Companies Administration (SAMHSA) of the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies announced a brand new $30 million hurt discount grant designed to deal with a nationwide substance use and overdose epidemic. The hurt discount kits embrace a spread of things together with a safer smoking package, which excludes “pipe/pipettes and different drug paraphernalia,” in response to its website. SAMHSA additionally states, “No federal funding is used immediately or via subsequent reimbursement of grantees to buy pipes in safer smoking kits. Grants embrace express prohibitions of federal funds for use to buy drug paraphernalia.”
Nonetheless, Washington Free Beacon investigators went to hurt discount organizations in Baltimore, Boston, New York Metropolis, Richmond and Washington, D.C., final 12 months and reported they obtained smoking kits with glass crack pipes and directions on how you can use “the pipe, heat-resistant mouthpieces, wood sticks for packing the mesh into the pipe.”
Final Might, the Beacon printed pictures and detailed details about the smoking kits it obtained. Investigators additionally met nonprofit workers reportedly receiving federal and personal group grant cash to supply residents crack pipes, meth pipes, and different equipment. One heart marketed, “One pipe per individual, as soon as a day.” One other marketed that its pipes are manufactured from Pyrex to resist excessive warmth, in response to the report.
When requested concerning the SAMHSA grant program final 12 months, former White Home Press Secretary Jenn Psaki informed reporters that crack pipes “had been by no means part of the package” and the Beacon’s report “was inaccurate reporting.” She additionally stated, “We don’t help federal funding, oblique or direct, for pipes,” USA At the moment reported.
Moody describes the SAMHSA program as “reckless” as drug overdose deaths proceed to skyrocket and argues the $30 million in taxpayer cash will solely worsen the already record-high nationwide debt.
Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.
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