Preventing Illicit Paraphernalia for Exchange Systems Act or the PIPES Act
This bill restricts the use of funding made available through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 for community-based overdose prevention programs, syringe services programs, and other harm reduction programs.
First, the bill prohibits the use of the act's funding to procure or distribute pipes or other paraphernalia that can be used to smoke, inhale, or ingest narcotics.
Second, the bill applies to the act's funding the conditions that apply to other funding from the Department of Health and Human Services for syringe services programs and needle exchange programs. The conditions require that programs (1) operate in a jurisdiction experiencing (or at risk for) increased transmission of hepatitis and HIV infections due to injection drug use, (2) use nonfederal funds for the purchase of syringes or needles, and (3) otherwise follow applicable laws.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy.