Robert F Kennedy Jr's Addiction Treatment Plan Focuses on Wellness Farms

Chef and restaurant owner Andrew Gruel discusses his support for the new administration's plans for the U.S. food industry on 'The Ingraham Angle.' Meanwhile, President Donald Trump's Health and Human Services nominee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has garnered scrutiny for his views on vaccines and other topics, but his ideas for addressing a major health crisis, addiction, deserve attention.

Prior to joining Trump's administration, Kennedy campaigned for president with a proposal to create "wellness farms" funded through tax revenues from federally legalized marijuana sales. "I'm going to create these wellness farms where they can go and get off of illegal drugs, off of opiates, but also legal drugs," he stated during a virtual "Latino Town Hall" event.

Kennedy has openly shared his own struggles with addiction, including cocaine and heroin, emphasizing his faith and commitment to Alcoholics Anonymous's 12-step program as pivotal to his recovery. He advocates for a clean lifestyle and envisions these wellness farms treating individuals seeking to discontinue anti-depressants and other medications.

The concept of wellness farms is not entirely new; it draws from the "therapeutic community" model, emphasizing peer support and behavioral solutions over medication-based treatments like methadone. Despite some in the medical community considering medication-assisted treatment the gold standard, others caution against its use.

Kennedy documented his visits to addiction treatment locations aligned with this model in his film, "Recovering America - A Film About Healing Our Addiction Crisis." These programs incorporate job training and social reintegration for addicts. One program he visited, Simple Promise Farms in Texas, emphasizes peer interactions for healing, lacking licensed therapists on site.

Experts like Keith Humphreys from Stanford University express concerns about excluding evidence-based treatments, questioning the effectiveness of such therapeutic communities and their historical success rates. He stresses the need for modern therapeutic advancements to address the complexities of addiction.

Humphreys also highlighted challenges in establishing Kennedy's proposed marijuana-funded programs, emphasizing bureaucratic hurdles as a significant obstacle. Fox News Digital reached out to Kennedy's representatives for comments on medically assisted treatment but did not receive a response by press time.