RFK Jr. announces $700M investment in addiction services, emphasizing faith-based organizations

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Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday announced a $700 million investment into behavioral health programs, indicating an emphasis on faith-based recovery organizations.

Kennedy, a recovered heroin addict, announced a $96 million funding opportunity for the Trump administration’s Safety Through Recovery, Engagement, and Evidence-based Treatment and Support (STREETS) program, along with $612 million in funding opportunities for other behavioral health programs.

Speaking at the Easterseals treatment center in Clinton Township, Mich., Kennedy said, “One of the features of our STREETS is opening up funding once again for faith-based organizations. The Biden administration actively discouraged funding to faith-based organizations for recovery. We think they’re critical.”

He blamed the Biden administration’s focus on harm reduction tactics, such as needle exchange programs and safe sites for injections, for creating a “proliferation of open air drug markets around the country.”

“We know what doesn’t work. Ignoring addiction doesn’t work. Harm reduction doesn’t work,” Kennedy added.

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse in 2024, needle exchanges help prevent the transmission of infectious diseases “without increasing drug-related or other crimes in the vicinity.”

During his remarks, Kennedy shared an anecdote involving Rowland Hazard and Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, who claimed Hazard would not be able to recover from his severe alcoholism without a “profound spiritual realignment.” Hazard’s experience with Jung would later inform Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

“The 12-step programs are devoid of religion but they are spiritual programs nonetheless,” Kennedy said.

According to an HHS press release, the STREETS program will award eight communities $3 million a year for four years to support the development of “multisector, state-of-the-art care systems for people who are homeless and have substance use disorders, serious mental illness, or co-occurring disorders.”

Tags

addiction

Faith-based organizations

Harm-reduction

health and human services

Joe Biden

National Institute of Drug Abuse

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

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