By james art 
During his hearing to confirm the Senate to serve as a secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., suggested antidepressant drugs may be as addictive as heroin – a claim contrary to research.
Kennedy’s comment during Wednesday’s hearing was one of a number of controversial allegations he made for drugs and addiction.
The 71 -year -old Kennedy has been a heroin user for more than a decade in his youth, which he talks often. He has been recovering for 42 years that he said in his second hearing for confirmation on Thursday.
Although he lacks medical training, he was a critic of antidepressant drugs – a class of medicines called selective inhibitors of serotonin reuptake or SSRI.
“I know people, including members of my family, who have had a much worse time to get out of SSRI than to descend from heroin,” Kennedy said in the hearing.
Decades of study show that the use of SSRI is safe and effective, while heroin is highly addictive in almost all users.
“Antidepressants and heroin are in different universes when it comes to the risk of addiction,” says Keith Humphries, who studies addiction at Stanford University. “During my 35 years in the field of addiction, I met only two or three people who thought they were addicted to antidepressants against thousands who were addicted to heroin and other opioids.”
A study published in The Medical Journal Lance They find that significant withdrawal symptoms affect only about 1 in 35 people who use antidepressants. It is important that you are in the care of a doctor when you exit SSRI and narrow gradually.
Kennedy has made Previous statements Regarding his approach to recovering from addiction, promoting the concept of “healing farms”, where people who are struggling with addiction will live and work. Many of them who study disorders in the use of substances have expressed doubt in this approach, as it focuses on the moral dimensions of recovery– and not on the best medical practices.
In his testimony, Kennedy said that the treatment of addiction addiction should be accessible to people with substance use disorders, but no one should be forced to go “Rita and scream”.
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