Summary
Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr., despite his history of heroin addiction, supports ending a $56 million federal Narcan distribution program that helped drive a nearly 24% drop in U.S. overdose deaths in 2024.
The program, administered by SAMHSA, trained over 66,000 people and distributed 282,500 kits.
Critics warn that cutting Narcan funding could reverse life-saving progress, especially as fentanyl-related overdoses persist.
Kennedy argues the crisis requires deeper societal change beyond “nuts and bolts” solutions, while public health advocates condemn the move as dangerously premature.
That sounds like a lot of work when you have the old reliable conservative tactic of pretending the problem doesn’t exist while blaming the ill effects of the not-problem on the personal responsibility of the victims. And their mental health. And other dog whistles that they are lesser subhumans who don’t deserve help.