Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) head. He says that he experienced a wonderful experience with LSD when he was 15-years-old. At the time, he believed he would be able see dinosaurs as depicted in the comic books he loved.
He said that his LSD experience led him later to take methamphetamine, and ultimately, to a decade long battle with heroin.
Kennedy shared candidly his journey of substance use at the 2025 Rx and Illicit Drug Summit held in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday. This was a rare opportunity to hear the HHS Secretary’s view on drug and alcohol abuse, as he assumed a crucial role in health and drugs policy within the Trump administration.
Kennedy says he used to be straight until he turned 15 and went to a party which became a melee. He met someone who gave him LSD while they were hitchhiking back home.
He said, “I never would have taken it.” But in his town, there was a store kids flocked to every week for comic books—and in one of his favorite series, Turok: Son of Stone, the characters took “some kind of hallucinogen” like mescaline and they saw dinosaurs.
Kennedy stated that he had a “deep interest” in paleontology, at the time. The person who administered the LSD suggested it is possible for him to see dinosaurs.
He said, “I took it and had this wonderful, intense experience.” “And in the morning, I was remorseful, and I was kicking myself and saying, ‘You swore you would never do this. You have broken your promise to yourself. Then I promised myself that I wouldn’t take any drugs again.”
Kennedy stated that the personal promise didn’t hold up for long. He “crashed” from acid and then met “some boys in the forest” near his home. They told him the best way to come down was by taking methamphetamine.
“They said, ‘Try some of this.’ “It was crystal meth,” said he. “And I took it, and all my problems went away—just evaporated. “I feel better than ever before.”
Kennedy, who was a former heroin addict, said that the feeling was only temporary. He tried heroin not long afterwards and became addicted to the substance “for 14 years.”
Kennedy is open about his substance abuse history. This was true when he ran for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2024, switched from Democrat to independent status and joined Trump’s HHS team.
Details of his experience with psychedelics are interesting. Although he has been relatively silent about the subject in his position as chief federal health official, Mr. Johnson previously advocated for the legalization of marijuana and certain psychoactive substances, including psilocybin, with the intention to fund drug abuse treatment using tax revenues from sales.
Last October, Kennedy specifically criticized the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over the agency’s “suppression of psychedelics” and a laundry list of other issues that he said amounted to a “war on public health” that would end under the Trump administration.
A former top U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) official said it’s “very encouraging” that Kennedy supports psychedelics reform—and he hopes to work with him on the issue if he stays on for the next administration.
Kennedy and the VA head had a “eye-opening conversation” about the therapeutic possibilities of psychedelic drugs. The VA chief said that he will press Congress for action.
Michael Pollan, an author, has said Kennedy’s appointment as HHS secretary may prove to be “very harmful” to the movement for psychedelics. He is concerned the official could pursue federal policy in a way which delegitimizes science-based substances, such as psilocybin.
By contrast, Rick Perry—a former governor of Texas who also served in the first Trump administration—said the president’s choices for key health policy positions, including Kennedy, are a “great gift” for the psychedelics reform movement, particularly as it concerns access to ibogaine as a treatment option for serious mental health conditions.
Separately, Kennedy has thrown some advocates off guard since being confirmed by the Senate, saying at one point that he’s “worried about” the normalization of high-potency marijuana and that he feels its use can have “really catastrophic impacts” on people—but that state-level legalization can facilitate research into its harms and benefits.
“We can compare states and study recreational marijuana because it is legalized across 25 states.” he explained. We need to conduct studies. Then we must implement policies that address any concerns.
HHS completed a thorough scientific analysis of cannabis under the Biden government, which led them to recommend that the marijuana in Schedule I be moved to Schedule 3 of the Controlled Substances Act.
Kennedy’s remarks came the day after Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-NE said that Kennedy had promised to “follow science” on marijuana harms.
Ricketts had already disclosed last week that he spoke to Kennedy about the the “importance” of “preventing the expansion of marijuana.” Now he claims that “RFK pledged to me he would adhere to science regarding the dangers of marijuana.”
Despite Kennedy’s history of advocating for cannabis legalization, he said in January that he will defer to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on marijuana rescheduling in his new role.
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