At the MAHA Institute's "Mental Health & Overmedicalization Summit" in the nation's capital, the Health and Human Services secretary compared his experience with withdrawal from heroin to a family member's withdrawal from SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), a class of antidepressants.
"I happen to be an actual expert on this, because I was addicted to heroin for 14 years. I never wanted to be. I was constantly getting off of it and then getting back on. And I went through cold turkey withdrawal probably over 100 times. And so I know what it's like, and it's not fun." He added, "but I've watched people come off of SSRIs and it is, it's not even comparable."
He said he watched a family member become suicidal after getting off SSRIs after a couple years of use.
This isn't the first time Kennedy has shared this comparison. He said something similar in his confirmation hearing in January 2025.
"She woke up every morning and said, 'I don't want to live.' And she said, 'The only reason I'm staying alive is for you guys.' And that's heartbreaking to hear from a family member, and I've heard that from hundreds and hundreds of people, the same story again and again," he said.




It has been 20 years since the state last elected a Democrat as governor. And it has been even longer since a Democrat not named Sherrod Brown has won a second election to any nonjudicial statewide office.
President Donald Trump exacted revenge on Indiana Republican legislators who foiled his redistricting push last year in the state, successfully backing challengers who unseated five incumbents in Tuesday's primaries.
“Regrettably, the State of Israel is still captive to a flawed conception. There is no alternative to conquest, expulsion, and settlement,” she wrote, adding: “Any other solution is unfeasible and will bring upon us the next massacre.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry announced a unilateral truce for Victory Day, declaring a pause in fighting from May 8 to May 9, while warning it would carry out a “massive missile strike” on Kyiv if Ukraine attempts to disrupt celebrations in Moscow.
The process of relocating people from New Orleans should start immediately, as the city has reached a “point of no return” that will see it surrounded by the ocean within decades due to the climate crisis, a stark new study has concluded.
Since Donald Trump’s first term, they have been viewed comfortingly as the “adults in the room,” a last line of defense against the impulsive whims of a president with access to the nuclear codes.
John Sterling, whose voice became synonymous with the New York Yankees, has died at the age of 87.
New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, and other local officials on Monday condemned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after federal officers dragged a man out of a hospital building where he had been taken following an arrest, prompting a crowd of protesters to gather outside, where they clashed with police.





























