NASHVILLE – Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy was the keynote speaker Thursday morning at the 2025 Rx and Illicit Drug Summit in Nashville.
Earlier this year, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that Kennedy, Jr. renewed the public health emergency declaration addressing the nation’s opioid crisis.
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“Although overdose deaths are starting to decline, opioid-involved overdoses remain the leading cause of drug-related fatalities,” HHS Secretary Kennedy said. “This Administration is going to treat this urgent crisis in American health as the national security emergency that it is. Renewing the Opioid Public Health Emergency Declaration affirms the Administration’s commitment to addressing the opioid overdose crisis and is one of many critical steps we will take to Make America Healthy Again.”
The public health emergency, first declared by President Trump in 2017, was set to expire on March 21, 2025.
RFK Jr. has been open about his battle with opioid addiction in his early years.
He told podcaster Lex Fridman that he became a drug addict when he was 15 years old and struggled with addiction for 14 years.
He credits his faith for helping him beat his opioid addiction.
