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.
This sucks. I worked in EMS through the peak of the opioid epidemic, and once Narcan became commonplace and widely available, our OD calls dropped noticably.
You think we’re past the peak? Honest question. As our lives get collectively, on average, worse over the next forever, you don’t think more people will turn to hard drugs to cope?
I’m not in the game anymore, so idk, but things had noticably improved for as much as I could tell (getting sent on 911 calls for it). I sure hope we’re past the peak, but with the way things are going, we’re about three days from RFK being fired for being too woke and being replaced with a fucking Sackler.