On Feb. 18, during his first meeting with staff, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated that he intends to address the possible overmedication of children and the risks of antidepressants — echoing a Trump executive order aimed at reducing childhood chronic disease rates. The order has sparked concerns over youth access to medications for depression, anxiety, and ADHD — a condition affecting around 22 million Americans.

Kennedy has previously criticized what he sees as the overuse of these drugs, arguing that they can be addictive and have dangerous side effects.

While some doctors acknowledge legitimate concerns about overprescribing, fears quickly spread that the Trump administration was planning to restrict access to psychiatric medications altogether.

Watch the video above as Straight Arrow News contributor Jordan Reid argues that RFK Jr.’s stance on psychiatric medication reflects a broader distrust of modern medicine — one that could roll back decades of progress in mental health care. 

The following is an excerpt from the above video:

RFK Jr. has long been skeptical — deeply skeptical — of psychiatric medications, and not in a “Let’s carefully examine Big Pharma’s influence” way, but more in a “What if we just threw out decades of medical research and went full 19th-century on this?” way. He’s suggested that antidepressants are linked to mass shootings — despite there being zero credible evidence to support this claim. That’s like saying car crashes are caused by airbags because they always seem to be there when an accident happens. Correlation is not causation, but try telling RFK Jr. that.

And when it comes to ADHD medication, his stance is even more concerning. His belief that these prescriptions are being handed out too freely isn’t just a mild policy concern — it’s part of a broader worldview that fundamentally distrusts modern psychiatric treatment. 

This is a man who wants to reduce access to ADHD medications while simultaneously expanding access to marijuana and psychedelics. So, just to clarify, your medically prescribed Adderall? Dangerous. But microdosing mushrooms to “connect with your inner child?” Absolutely fine.