RFK Jr. says it's the model for addiction treatment. Experts disagree
4/30/202610 min
HHS Secretary RFK Jr. thinks he has the answer to addiction treatment. The experts say otherwise.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. thinks he’s cracked the code for addiction treatment.
Kennedy, who used heroin for more than a decade, believes wellness, work and abstinence like the methods practiced in a rural Italian facility are the keys to sobriety.
But Kennedy is facing new criticism over his proposal to open government-run farm and work camps. NPR addiction correspondent Brian Mann traveled to Italy to see things up close.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
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This episode was produced by Kai McNamee and Tyler Bartlam.
It was edited by Andrea de Leon and Courtney Dorning.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsScott Detrow· Host0:00
It's Consider This, where every day we go deep on one big news story. Today, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his plan to revolutionize addiction treatment in the United States.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.· Soundbite0:12
I've seen this beautiful model that they have in Italy called San Patrignano, where there are 2,000 kids who work on a, uh, on a large farm in a healing center.
Scott Detrow· Host0:22
That's Kennedy speaking to News Nation in 2024. He's talking about a drug treatment community in rural Italy. The facility focuses on hard work, a regimented schedule, and community. They don't offer therapy or medical care. When he was campaigning for president in 2024, Kennedy used the Italian facility as an inspiration for his proposal to open government-run farms and work camps, adding they would be places where American children could be reparented. Many critics have a lot of questions about that approach.
Robert Heimer· Soundbite0:53
We know that abstinence-based programs fail over and over again, often very quickly. Your likelihood of dying was 70% higher than if you weren't in treatment at all.
Scott Detrow· Host1:08
Consider this: HHS Secretary RFK Jr. thinks he has the answer to addiction treatment. The experts say otherwise. From NPR, I'm Scott Detrow.
Brittany Luse1:19
This year, for the first time in NPR's history, public media is operating without federal funding. That means NPR