Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed that using heroin as a student improved his grades in a resurfaced clip that has been circulating on social media.
Kennedy appeared on an episode of the Shawn Ryan Show during his presidential campaign in July, where he recalled his history of addiction and his eventual heroin use. During the podcast interview, the Democrat-turned-independent — who has been nominated to oversee public health programs in President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet — claimed that using drugs bolstered his academic performance.
“I did very, very poorly in school, until I started doing narcotics,” Kennedy, 70, said on the podcast. “Then I went to the top of my class because my mind was so restless and turbulent and I could not sit still.”
“It worked for me,” he continued of his heroin use. “And if it still worked, I’d still be doing it.”
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, heroin users typically feel a brief “rush” after taking the drug, then enter a drowsy state where “mental function is clouded; heart function slows; and breathing is also severely slowed, sometimes enough to be life-threatening.”
The NIDA adds that the slow breathing can cause to permanent brain damage.
In the July podcast interview, Kennedy described his substance abuse as a “compulsion” and said that cocaine and heroin became his drugs of choice. Nobody around him knew about his addiction, he said.
Kennedy was flying to Minnesota to detox in 1983 when he was arrested for heroin possession, he noted, calling it, “the best thing that could have happened to me” because that event led to him getting sober.
“The most demoralizing feature of that disease was my incapacity to keep contracts with myself,” he said of his addiction.
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Kennedy — who is best known as an anti-vaccine activist — has been in the news recently after he was revealed as Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. He has made a number of controversial statements about what he may do as health secretary if the Senate approves his nomination.
Among the proposals, Kennedy has suggested that Americans begin consuming raw milk, even amid news that the bird flu has been found in batches of the unpasteurized beverage.
He also declared his intent to remove fluoride from drinking water — claiming without evidence in an X post that it is “associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease.”
PEOPLE previously reported that fluoride in drinking water has long been championed as one of the greatest health breakthroughs in the 20th century, and continues to be supported by the American Dental Association.
To be confirmed to Trump’s Cabinet, Kennedy will need to earn the support of the Republican-controlled Senate when the 119th Congress convenes in January.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please contact the SAMHSA substance abuse helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
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