Fox News host Tucker Carlson has claimed that the Biden administration has a political incentive to abandon the Americans who die from opioid overdoses.
Speaking about the new US Department of Health and Human Services programme, which intends to reduced drug harm and provide safer smoking kits, Mr Carlson said “Joe Biden is giving out free crack pipes to Black people” before suggesting that it’s a power play.
He criticised the president for ignoring the opioid crisis, and claimed that its victims are predominantly white.
Mr Carlson cited an inaccurate figure that 100,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses.
In fact, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention statistic on there being 100,000 deaths actually relates to all drug use between April 2020 to April 2021. Around 75,000 of these were actually related to opioid use.
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The host went on to falsely state that “those 100,000 Americans weren’t from officially marginalised groups”, when in fact many of them were.
“Their deaths had nothing to do with the equity agenda. In fact, their deaths may have helped the equity agenda by changing the demographics of the country in a way that benefits the Democratic Party,” said the host. “So as far as the Biden Administration is concerned, it’s not a bad trend.”
Mr Carlson then suggested there was an ulterior motive for letting people who take opioids die and allowing drugs to enter the country.
“Sure, a lot of people died from opioids in Joe Biden’s first year,” he said. “On the other hand, these are exactly the kind of people the administration hates anyway. So with equity in mind, the White House plans to continue allowing as much fentanyl as possible to come into this country through Mexico.”
The Independent has contacted Fox News for further comment.