A California-funded homeless shelter gave us meth pipes

Gov.Gavin Newsom has supported “harm reduction” policies that enable drug use by the homeless in the name of making it “safer.” He created the state’s Harm Reduction Initiative, which funded “syringe services programs” for “people who inject and smoke fentanyl and/or methamphetamines.”His Department of Public Health has endorsed distributing syringes, glass pipes and “[c]ontainers for mixing injectable drugs” to drug users.

Newsom argued earlier this year that harm-reduction tactics “increase the likelihood of people entering substance use treatment.”But do California’s harm-reduction programs encourage addicts to enter treatment? We visited the Skid Row Care Campus, a homeless-services site in Los Angeles County, to witness “harm reduction” in action.We discovered that, instead of directing addicts to get clean, the taxpayer-funded program doles out free paraphernalia, enabling addicts to get high — no questions asked. (A state harm-reduction-supplies fact sheet doesn’t mention “treatment.”)We arrived at Skid Row in the morning.The campus, bounded by pastel-colored buildings and a metal gate, looked like an apocalyptic wasteland.

Homeless people and addicts were splayed across the common areas, with some smoking what seemed to be hard drugs with impunity.California's top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.

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Never miss a story We stepped onto the courtyard connected to the street.No one stopped us, asked for identification or searched us for weapons or drugs.We entered campus and found a walk-up counter, where an attendant sat before shelves of drug paraphernalia.

Users come to this counter to get free needles and crack pipes, with which they can inject or smoke hard drugs.“What can I get you?” he asked.“We have oil burners, we h...