Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett posted a House hearing clip on X showing journalist Jonathan Choe holding up a red “safer use” kit during testimony in Washington, D.C. According to the post and Choe’s remarks, King County Public Health distributed the pack, which included items such as pipes and needles. Online users reacted after the video, questioning who approved the program and whether taxpayer money should fund it.
The video shows journalist Jonathan Choe at the witness table in a House hearing room, holding up a red pouch and telling lawmakers, “Let me show you briefly what’s inside.” In the clip, he identifies the item as “this baggie given out at King County Public Health just minutes from the Seattle Space Needle,” saying it “is called a party pack.”
He lists contents as “a free meth pipe,” “a tourniquet,” “countless needles,” “fentanyl test strips,” and “cookers,” adding, “They’re giving away free drug supplies like candy in the name of harm reduction.”
Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett, according to his caption, called it an example of “where your tax dollars are going.” The footage is from the Sept. 15 hearing of the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, titled “Fixing Fraud and Failure in Federally Funded Homelessness Services.”
King County Public Health describes such materials as harm-reduction and overdose-prevention supplies and has separately reported a 32% drop in fatal overdoses from 2023 to 2025, along with wide distribution of naloxone. Minority witness Samantha Batko of the Urban Institute testified that communities can cut homelessness by expanding housing, prevention, and treatment access, citing Denver’s reported decline in unsheltered homelessness.
After the ‘Party Pack’ Hit the Feed
Several commenters focused on cost and authority. They asked why public money was involved and who signed off, including, “Why are We the People, taxpayers, paying for Safe Drug Kits?” and “Who approved this program?”
Others argued the kits enable drug use instead of treating it. One viewer wrote, “I support NARCAN being given out… But safe drug use kits are just enabling more drug use.”
Another asked, “Why is government promoting drug usage?”
A smaller group offered a different view of the supplies. One commenter said people who use drugs “would probably do drugs anyway” and that sharing needles is more dangerous.
A fourth set of replies called for the practice to end or treated the contents as contraband. Viewers wrote, “Someone please put a stop to this,” and noted that similar items had been “called drug paraphernalia and an arrestable offense.”
The clip is now one more moment in a longer debate over harm-reduction supplies, homelessness funding, and what public agencies should provide. Whether kits like the one shown prevent harm or enable drug use is still the question dividing lawmakers, health officials, and viewers.
