Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated he would ship folks hooked on authorized and unlawful medicine to “wellness farms” the place they might develop natural meals.
Kennedy stated he would create rehabilitation wellness farms the place folks with drug-related points (together with with psychiatric medicine) can go for a program of rehabilitation that would come with job coaching and rising natural meals for their very own consumption.
Nevertheless, opposite to how some folks interpreted his phrases, Kennedy didn’t say or indicate anybody could be “despatched” to such places towards their will.
As President-elect Donald Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to guide the Division of Well being and Human Companies in November 2024, many individuals revisited his previous controversial opinions on well being.
One such opinion concerned his purported proposal to ship drug addicts to “wellness farms” in rural areas the place they might work and try to finish their dependancy. Some posts online claimed these have been “labor camps.”
(X consumer @IvoVegter)
Posts making the declare additionally circulated earlier than the election, together with a viral Reddit publish in October 2024 that detailed how Kennedy proposed serving to folks “get off” psychiatric medicine, together with antidepressants. Some social media posts poked enjoyable on the alleged wellness farms in the summertime of 2024, when Kennedy was nonetheless working for president as an impartial candidate.
Kennedy did certainly make feedback proposing “wellness farms” as an answer to numerous types of drug dependancy, although he later claimed that the media misrepresented and distorted his phrases. Nevertheless, video footage exhibits he made the above assertion, whereas including that individuals attending might get off psychiatric medicine “in the event that they wish to.” He didn’t point out anybody could be coerced into going. As such, we price this declare as a mix of true and false.
On July 16, 2024, Kennedy appeared on the “Latino Capitalist,” a conservative podcast. He outlined his varied coverage proposals, together with the one on drug rehabilitation which now we have reproduced beneath. He started by discussing how he wished to tax marijuana dispensaries and use that cash for “wellness farms” (emphasis ours):
I’ll dedicate that income to creating wellness farms — drug rehabilitation farms — in rural areas throughout this nation. The largest trade now in rural areas is prisons. I’m going to alter that. I’ll make it so folks can go, in case you’re convicted of a drug offense, or you probably have a drug drawback, you’ll be able to go to one in every of these locations free of charge. They will develop their very own meals, natural meals, high-quality meals as a result of lots of the behavioral points are food-related. Lots of the sicknesses are food-related. There will not be any cellphones there. There will not be any screens. We’ll reparent folks, restore this connection to neighborhood. We’ve a complete era of children who’re dispossessed, they’re alienated, they’re marginalized. Their suicide charges are exploding. … Final 12 months, 107,000 American youngsters died from drug overdoses, particularly fentanyl and different opiates.
[…]
You bought a complete era of children who is broken. I’ll create these wellness farms the place they will go to get off of unlawful medicine, off of opiates, but additionally authorized medicine, different psychiatric medicine, in the event that they wish to, to get off of SSRIs, to get off of benzos, to get off of Adderall, and to spend time as a lot time as they want — three or 4 years in the event that they want it — to study to get reparented, to reconnect with communities, to know easy methods to speak to folks. There will be job coaching, notably within the trades.
The podcast is on the market on the “Latino Capitalist” YouTube web page. Kennedy made the feedback on the 16:30 mark:
A Mother Jones article in July 2024 reported on these statements, with the headline “RFK Jr. Desires to Ship Individuals Hooked on Antidepressants to Authorities ‘Wellness Farms.'”After that article’s publication, Kennedy posted the next assertion on X, together with a hyperlink to a movie titled “Recovering America: A Film About Healing Our Addiction Crisis“:
I keep in mind when Mom Jones revealed good, fearless writing. Sadly, now it appears to be one other organ of yellow journalism. I additionally keep in mind when the Left was skeptical of Massive Pharma. It wasn’t that way back.
Articles like these, with their deceptive titles, grotesque distortions, and snarky tone, clarify why so many individuals have turned away from politics—and journalism—in disgust.
In case you care to know my precise tackle serving to deal with the heartbreaking epidemic of dependancy and psychological sickness in our nation, please watch this brief movie and choose for your self.
The movie follows Kennedy as he visits a variety of drug dependancy restoration applications, together with The Different Aspect in Salt Lake Metropolis, which supplies expertise and coaching to folks with legal data and histories of drug abuse. He additionally visited Easy Promise Farms, which raises funds for dependancy restoration applications, and the place males with drug addictions work on the farm. The themes of the movie talked about their addictions to medicine together with fentanyl and heroin, not medicine generally utilized in psychiatric therapies.
Nevertheless, within the podcast interview, Kennedy expanded the idea of a “wellness farm” to incorporate medicine used to deal with psychological sicknesses reminiscent of despair. He stated folks could be supported in getting off such medicine “in the event that they wish to.” Kennedy didn’t state that these places have been obligatory for folks; slightly, he stated they “can” go.
Kennedy publicized plenty of conspiracy theories earlier than and through his presidential marketing campaign. He suggested that antidepressants could possibly be answerable for faculty shootings and that Wi-Fi brought on most cancers and “leaky mind,” amongst others.
