RFK Jr. Explains the Great American Recovery Plan

And the Trump administration is focusing on a new approach to treating addiction with its Great American Recovery Plan. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. yesterday explained what that's going to involve. Here's more from Kennedy. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday went into the details of the Trump administration's new addiction recovery program. President Trump last week signed an order creating the Great American Recovery Plan. At its core, the plan will consist of a $100 million investment in tackling homelessness issues and opioid addiction, as well as improving public safety. This will be done by focusing on safety through recovery, engagement, and evidence-based treatment and supports, or STREETS. Kennedy says the plan aims to connect those experiencing addiction with the community. Addiction is about isolation. It's a disease of isolation. Addicts end up alone. They burn their relationships. They lose their jobs. They end up in rooms or jails or institutions or dead. And the ultimate solution to that is reconnecting people to community. The initiative will coordinate a national response across government, health care, faith communities and the private sector. Kennedy criticized the existing framework, saying its response to addiction is fragmented. The system itself is designed to keep you sick. Every time you relapse, the rehab makes more money. And the costs go up. The Department of Health and Human Services says addiction or substance use disorder has risen sharply in the last few years. And it says nearly 8 in 10 people with a substance use disorder in 2024 did not receive treatment. Kennedy said that when becoming isolated, we lose access to an important source of healing. When we cut off our relationships with other human beings, we lose that access to the divine. And that is a healing power. We are in a spiritual malaise in this country. And we need to give people access to all different ways of reconnecting with something that is higher than themselves. Kennedy emphasized with addiction, early intervention is key to prevention. He said it's important to identify children who could fall into patterns of addiction. We need to start doing the interventions then when there's still neuroplasticity in their brains before they've internalized the pathology and locked themselves into behaviors that are very, very difficult to break later on. Kennedy also announced a $10 million grant for the Assisted Outpatient Treatment for adults with serious mental illness who are unlikely to be able to live safely in their community. His department describes this as a civil court-ordered outpatient mental health treatment program. It's modeled around community-based treatment as an alternative to what HHS says are more costly restrictive levels of care and interactions with the criminal justice system.