Lev Facher

The problem is that very few of these recommendations were fully implemented. Congress did pass a bill in 2018 that put some resources toward this crisis. But again, advocates would tell you that it was nowhere near what it needed to be if Washington was serious about keeping people alive.

The Trump administration was nominally supportive of medications used to treat opioid addiction, specifically methadone and buprenorphine. But it didn't do that much to expand access.

The Trump administration was nominally supportive of medications used to treat opioid addiction, specifically methadone and buprenorphine. But it didn't do that much to expand access.

The Trump administration was nominally supportive of medications used to treat opioid addiction, specifically methadone and buprenorphine. But it didn't do that much to expand access.

And there was even an incident where Tom Price, who was Trump's first health secretary, spoke about those medications in a very derisive way and caused a whole uproar that the health secretary wasn't following the evidence in terms of what works effectively. treating opioid addiction. But no, nominally, they were supportive of access to many forms of evidence based treatment.

And there was even an incident where Tom Price, who was Trump's first health secretary, spoke about those medications in a very derisive way and caused a whole uproar that the health secretary wasn't following the evidence in terms of what works effectively. treating opioid addiction. But no, nominally, they were supportive of access to many forms of evidence based treatment.

And there was even an incident where Tom Price, who was Trump's first health secretary, spoke about those medications in a very derisive way and caused a whole uproar that the health secretary wasn't following the evidence in terms of what works effectively. treating opioid addiction. But no, nominally, they were supportive of access to many forms of evidence based treatment.

That's not the same thing, though, as facilitating some gigantic expansion in access.

That's not the same thing, though, as facilitating some gigantic expansion in access.

That's not the same thing, though, as facilitating some gigantic expansion in access.

Him? No. But Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his incoming health secretary, yeah, absolutely. He has a lot of very interesting ideas for how to beat this crisis. And worth noting that he himself is in long-term recovery from addiction to heroin, also to alcohol. And he is a really frequent attendee of 12-step meetings, specifically Alcoholics Anonymous.

Him? No. But Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his incoming health secretary, yeah, absolutely. He has a lot of very interesting ideas for how to beat this crisis. And worth noting that he himself is in long-term recovery from addiction to heroin, also to alcohol. And he is a really frequent attendee of 12-step meetings, specifically Alcoholics Anonymous.

Him? No. But Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his incoming health secretary, yeah, absolutely. He has a lot of very interesting ideas for how to beat this crisis. And worth noting that he himself is in long-term recovery from addiction to heroin, also to alcohol. And he is a really frequent attendee of 12-step meetings, specifically Alcoholics Anonymous.

He is certainly a 12-step proponent, and it's going to be interesting to see how that factors into public policy.

He is certainly a 12-step proponent, and it's going to be interesting to see how that factors into public policy.

He is certainly a 12-step proponent, and it's going to be interesting to see how that factors into public policy.

Well, his signature proposal is for a national network of wellness farms, I guess they're called, where people could go and spend time outdoors working with their hands, working with animals, etc. And there's some evidence to suggest that this could be Though I think there's a lot of skepticism that you could implement this at scale, given the scope of the opioid crisis.

Well, his signature proposal is for a national network of wellness farms, I guess they're called, where people could go and spend time outdoors working with their hands, working with animals, etc. And there's some evidence to suggest that this could be Though I think there's a lot of skepticism that you could implement this at scale, given the scope of the opioid crisis.

Well, his signature proposal is for a national network of wellness farms, I guess they're called, where people could go and spend time outdoors working with their hands, working with animals, etc. And there's some evidence to suggest that this could be Though I think there's a lot of skepticism that you could implement this at scale, given the scope of the opioid crisis.

And you also wouldn't want to do it at the expense of approaches that are known to be effective from a medical perspective, like those medications I mentioned, methadone and buprenorphine. But that does seem to be RFK's big idea, these wellness farms that he has said he'd like to fund via attacks on legalized marijuana, fascinatingly.