07/02/2025
Addicts in the US look like they are in for a tough time with the Trump administration now in charge. Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., also known by his initials RFK Jr., is an American politician, environmental lawyer, author, anti-vaccine activist, and conspiracy theorist. He is the nominee for United States Secretary of Health and Human Services in President Donald Trump's second cabinet.
"When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talks about the journey that led to his growing focus on health and wellness — and ultimately to his confirmation hearings this week for U.S. secretary of health and human services — it begins not with medical training or a background in research, but with his own addiction to he**in and other drugs.
"I became a drug addict when I was 15 years old," (ie 57 yrs ago 71yo ) Kennedy said last year during an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman. "I was addicted for 14 years. During that time, when you're an addict, you're living against conscience and you kind of push God to the peripheries of your life.
Kennedy was lucky. He came from one of the wealthiest families in the US. Now he is proposing "a sprawling new system of camps or farms where people experiencing addiction would be sent to recover." "We're going to build hundreds of healing farms where American kids can reconnect with America's soil." Kennedy said.
"But Kennedy's approach to addiction care is controversial, described by many drug policy experts as risky, in part because it focuses on the moral dimension of recovery rather than modern, science-based medication and health care"
"We have spent the last 15, 20 years trying to move away from treating addiction as a sin rather than a medical disorder, We've spent many years trying to get people to take up these medications that we know cut the death risk in half, and Kennedy seems to want to go backwards on all that."
"In public statements, Kennedy has also repeated the inaccurate claim that the addiction and overdose crisis isn't improving. In fact, fatal overdoses have dropped nationally by more than 20% since June 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, falling below 90,000 deaths in a 12-month period for the first time in half a decade."
"Under Kennedy's leadership, the Department of Health and Human Services could shrink or eliminate funding for science-based medical treatment and instead focus on spirituality-based approaches that appear to help a relatively small percentage of people who experience addiction"
Another concern about Kennedy's addiction proposals focuses on his interest in a program for drug treatment created 50 yrs ago in Italy in the 1970s. "The San Patrignano program has been controversial and was featured in a 2020 Netflix documentary that included images of people with addiction allegedly being held in shackles or confined in cages".
"According to Kennedy's plan, outlined in interviews and social media posts, Americans experiencing addiction would go to San Patrignano-style camps voluntarily, or they could be pressured or coerced into accepting care, with a threat of incarceration for those who refuse care".
"The vast majority of researchers, doctors and front-line addiction treatment workers agree that scientific data shows medications like buprenorphine, methadone and naloxone are game changers when it comes to treating the deadliest street drugs, including fentanyl and he**in.
The Biden administration moved aggressively to make medical treatments far more affordable and widely available. Many experts believe those programs are factors in the dramatic national drop in overdose deaths that began (in the USA) in 2023."
"Kennedy's plan to build a network of farms or camps doesn't appear to include facilities that offer proper medical treatments for seriously ill people facing severe addiction" and could be a serious step backwards for America.
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. survived he**in addiction and says that if confirmed as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, he'll build treatment "farms" to help people recover.
