Disaster RFK Jr. to End 'Godsend' Narcan Program That Helped Reduce Overdose Deaths Despite His Past Heroin Addiction - You NARCAN’T do that!

https://www.latintimes.com/rfk-jr-e...verdose-deaths-despite-his-past-heroin-581846
https://archive.ph/PTJca
Despite his own history of overcoming heroin addiction, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is backing plans to end a federal Narcan distribution program credited with helping drive a steep drop in U.S. overdose deaths.

Narcan, the widely-used overdose reversal drug, has played a major role in reducing opioid-related deaths, particularly amid the fentanyl crisis.

A $56 million annual grant program through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has funded the distribution of Narcan to first responders across the country, training over 66,000 individuals and distributing more than 282,500 kits in 2024 alone. Recent CDC data shows a nearly 24% drop in overdose deaths for the 12 months ending September 2024, the sharpest one-year decline in decades—an achievement partly attributed to widespread naloxone access.

Speaking at the Illicit Drug Summit in Nashville on Thursday, Kennedy reflected on his personal struggle with addiction and emphasized the importance of community, treatment, and hope in solving the drug crisis, USA Today reported. However, behind the scenes, the Trump administration's draft budget includes major cuts to addiction programs, including the termination of the Narcan grant, according to The Independent.

"Narcan has been kind of a godsend as far as opioid epidemics are concerned, and we certainly are in the middle of one now with fentanyl," Donald McNamara of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said. "We need this funding source because it's saving lives every day."

Though Kennedy has previously praised interventions like Narcan as critical to saving lives, he now frames the crisis as one requiring deeper, spiritual and societal change rather than relying solely on "nuts and bolts" medical solutions.

The proposal has drawn swift condemnation from addiction specialists and public health advocates, who warn that cutting Narcan funding could reverse the progress made against overdose deaths. Critics argue that removing life-saving tools while broader societal fixes are slowly pursued would leave vulnerable communities at risk.

While national overdose deaths have declined, experts warn the epidemic is far from over, especially in states still experiencing surges. Ending federal Narcan support could slow or even reverse recent gains.

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[WelperHelper99]

I ve been ranting about addiction in another thread.

You and I are logical people but addicts function on another level. There is no arguing them to sobriety.

If the goal is treating addiction as a medical issue then narcan is great. There is also subnoxen helps with with drawls.

I like to say the social ill is the anti social behavoir of being homeless, stealing, and using/oding in public.

Addiction should be treated as a medical issue. In a medical setting. You don't get to hand out 1up potions to fix their screw ups. It normalizes bad antisocial behavior. If they are to get over it, they must be at the brink of death to want it. Narcan in public hands prevents that.

 

[Someoneelse]

Good, long overdue.
Time to stop enabling these fuckers.

 

[northstar747]

It normalizes bad antisocial behavior. If they are to get over it, they must be at the brink of death to want it.

Eh you and I agree and disagree. I have a back ground in pharmacy and narcon doesnt pose a risk and should be over the counter.

The normalization of bad antisocial behavior is not the administrating of medicine. But society allowing it to start with. I would rather do the comedy bit of legalize smack and criminalize being a junky.

Basically homeless people, theives, dealers the very people getting revived by the EMT with narcan get punished.

To sum it up, if you wanna have judge dred walk down skid road, and exicute people on the street for being a junkie, I would support you.

But if you just wanna hope they OD, thats being a pussy and avoiding dishing out punishment.

 

[TaimuRadiu]

Let them die. If the homeless want to take fucking heroin, just let them die. They want to die anyway.

 

[Oilspill Battery]

LA really is the site that satan originally crashed in after he fell from heaven. The entire city is the global source of debauchery, depravity, degeneracy and evil, but nobody in it can actually see it. When you move into the city you become corrupted by it, instead of fighting its evil, you start promoting it, thinking its normal.

The literal living dead swarm the streets, nature keeps trying to claim them but necromancers working in his name are forcefuly keeping them alive, losing more and more of their humanity each time, until they are little more than the husks they keep trying to fruitlessly bring back.

It really is the city of angels. Just don't ask which ones.

 

[Sister Miriam Godwinson]

But what are we going to give cops when they have a panic attack after hearing Fentanyl might be within 1 mile of their location?

A life sentence? Ba-dum-tiss.

Frankly, I am surprised drug use is practically decriminalized in the US. If left unchecked, this shit kills countries.

 

[TowinKarz]

Dying from your poor choices used to be the way the destructive and debauched were removed from functioning society.

Allowing, much less mandating, they be resurrected and put back is like piping your sewer right back into your kitchen and hoping it will all just work out as long as no one complains.

 

[Sithis]

Good. A ton of addicts will use narcan so they can keep doing all the other shit besides opioids as well, like meth users will keep it on hand in case they get some fentanyl laced meth. The fear of overdose used to be something that caused a lot of addicts to seek treatment but now they view it more as a routine thing because they think the narcan will save them if they push it too far.

 

[The Dude]

A life sentence? Ba-dum-tiss.

Frankly, I am surprised drug use is practically decriminalized in the US. If left unchecked, this shit kills countries.

You can thank Democrats, especially Democrat women, and their toxic empathy for that. They're the ones who have worked tirelessly to reverse every common sense law we used to have that punished behavior that society had already decided was unacceptable and should be dealt with harshly to discourage it's continuation. "Addiction is a disease!" and other excuses to eliminate accountability from people's choices and actions. As a recovering addict who has been clean for nine years, I can tell you that the line about addiction being a disease is bullshit. No one coughed on me and then suddenly I was addicted to opiate painkillers. I didn't have sex with a chick and wasn't wearing a jimmy hat one time and then a couple months later I suddenly started popping pills. No, I became an addict because of weak will, poor impulse control, and other character flaws that I have worked hard for years to correct. Saying I was an addict because I had a disease would be me trying to duck responsibility for my actions, my choices, and my behavior and it would cheapen my recovery.

 

[Clotso Coof]

Hasn't fentanyl been found in weed, though?

Normal weed smokers who get exposed to fent won't have Narcan at the ready to save them, no matter how available Narcan is. Teens who think they bought some old lady's Xanax pills won't have Narcan ready to go either.

Everyday, non-druggie people don't stock up Narcan just in case. I have just about everything legal in my home med kit, but I don't have Narcan.

Narcan in the hands of non-professionals is being used to revive hardcore junkies, not the sweet teen next door who got a laced joint. EMTs might save that kid with Narcan, but they'd have it available in their EMT kits even if Narcan became harder for random people to get.