Prospective HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been outspoken about providing more resources to substance use treatment, but is critical of medication treatments for mental health conditions.
President-elect Donald Trump said Nov. 14 he would nominate Mr. Kennedy to lead HHS. If confirmed, Mr. Kennedy would oversee the agency's 13 divisions, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Mr. Kennedy mounted a campaign for president as an independent before ending his bid for the White House and endorsing Mr. Trump. He has touted multiple debunked conspiracy theories related to vaccines, antidepressants and more, according to the Washington Post.
Here is what Mr. Kennedy has said about mental health and substance use:
- Mr. Kennedy has often touted the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism. In an interview with NBC on Nov. 6, Mr. Kennedy said that he has "never been antivaccine" and that he will not take away any vaccines currently on the market. "People ought to have a choice, and that choice ought to be informed by the best information," he said.
- The former environmental lawyer has criticized medication treatment for behavioral health conditions. In an interview with TRT World in January, Mr. Kennedy said there could be a link between antidepressant use and school shootings.
"NIH needs to be studying to see if there are connections between SSRIs and psychiatric drugs people are taking, if there's connections to video games," Mr. Kennedy said.
Researchers have not found a link between antidepressants and school shootings, according to the Washington Post. Only a small percentage of mass shooters were taking antidepressant medications at the time they committed the crimes. - Mr. Kennedy has spoken about his recovery from substance use disorder. According to the Los Angeles Times, Mr. Kennedy has said he was addicted to heroin for 14 years, and has been in recovery for four decades. During his bid for the presidency, he said he attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings up to nine times a week, and would hold meetings in the White House if elected.
- During his run for president, Mr. Kennedy pitched creating government-funded "wellness farms" in rural areas to support those with substance use disorder and behavioral health conditions.
"I'm going to create wellness farms where they can go to get off of illegal drugs, off of opiates — but also legal, psychiatric drugs if they want to — SSRIs, benzos, Adderall," Mr. Kennedy said in an interview with the Latino Capitalist podcast in July.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Mr. Kennedy said the program would be funded by $8 billion in annual tax income from legalized marijuana. - The prospective HHS secretary has advocated for legalizing psychedelics for therapeutic purposes.
In an Oct. 25 post on X, formerly Twitter, Mr. Kennedy alleged the FDA is suppressing the use of psychedelics and a laundry list of other substances, including stem cells, raw milk and ivermectin.
In a video posted on his YouTube channel in January, Mr. Kennedy said his son's experience with the psychedelic ayahuasca convinced him some psychedelics should be "decriminalized, if not outright legalized."
"As a former addict, I tend to be skeptical about taking substances to heal what's inside," Mr. Kennedy wrote. "But my son's inspiring story about his ayahuasca journey has me considering the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics in a new light."