Taxpayer-funded nonprofit tells drug users: ‘It never hurts to have a boofing buddy!’
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, who has described his Republican opponents as “weird,” gave taxpayer funds as Minnesota governor to a nonprofit that provides “booty bumping” kits for drug users to ingest drugs through “the butthole.”
On May 14, Walz announced $100 million in funding for 135 nonprofit organizations to provide “vital” services to homeless people. “The money is supporting a number of services including street outreach, shelter, and harm reduction for drug users,” the Walz administration said.
At Southside Harm Reduction Services, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit featured in Walz’s announcement, the “harm reduction” services include the provision of kits that contain syringes, sterile water, drug cookers, and lube that allow users to ingest drugs “through the rectum (anus, butthole).”
The organization has touted the paraphernalia—called “booty bumping” or “boofing” kits—in social media posts and on its website, as both a safer method to ingest some drugs and an efficient way to get high. Junkies may booty bump because drugs “reach the bloodstream quickly,” allowing users to “reach a high faster than some other routes of administration,” Southside Harm Reduction says.
“Try to poop before. This is so your drugs are absorbed better,” Southside Harm Reduction Services advises in a pamphlet contained in the kits. “Stand, squat, or lay on your side in a comfortable position. It never hurts to have a boofing buddy!”
The Walz administration has given $3,104,365 to Southside Harm Reduction Services since 2020 for syringe exchange programs and other “harm reduction” initiatives, according to state spending records. The Walz administration awarded $432,000 to Southside Harm Reduction Services in 2023 to provide “low-barrier access” to harm reduction supplies.
Southside Harm Reduction Services is able to give away booty bumping kits and other products thanks to a bill Walz championed in May 2023 that expanded access to “harm reduction services” and made it legal for nonprofit organizations to give away drug paraphernalia. Jack Martin, the executive director of Southside Harm Reduction Services, called the bill “a fantastic move in the right direction.”
Walz’s support for the nonprofit group could provide Republicans another line of attack on the liberal Democrat, who became a darling of Democrats this summer after calling Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance “weird” over his views on abortion and family structure. In response, Republicans have given Walz the moniker “Tampon Tim” over a bill he signed that provides tampons to high schools, some of which have ended up in boys’ bathrooms.
Organizations like Southside Harm Reduction Services have emerged in recent years as part of a movement to provide drug users with the means to safely ingest hard drugs such as heroin, crack, methamphetamine, and fentanyl. The movement has stoked some controversy because groups providing the “harm reduction” services often appear to condone, if not approve, certain risky drug practices.
That appears to be the case with Southside Harm Reduction Services’ promotion of “slamming,” a practice popular among some in the gay community in which users inject drugs such as methamphetamine while having sex. “If you like slamming it makes a lot of sense to learn how to do it well. This section explains where to inject, the injecting process and technique, and all of the equipment you will need,” according to a brochure that Southside Harm Reduction Services links to on its website. The brochure’s cover prominently displays a naked, muscular man holding a giant syringe.
Like the Walz administration, the Biden-Harris administration has also awarded grants to nonprofits that offer “booty bumping” kits.
According to the federal spending database USASpending.gov, the administration has given $354,663 since 2021 to a Washington, D.C., nonprofit called HIPS to operate “harm reduction vending machines” in the nation’s capital. The vending machines contain booty bumping kits, syringes, and other drug paraphernalia, according to City Journal.
Walz’s office and the Harris-Walz campaign did not respond to requests for comment. Southside Harm Reduction Services did not respond to a request for comment.
