Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) has emerged as a candidate who transcends the existing partisan structure in the 2024 US presidential election. One of his unique policies is his approach to “public healing through cannabis and psychedelics.” He sees these substances not simply as targets for legalization, but as social prescriptions for serious mental issues such as addiction and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
A vision for a "healing" society beyond marijuana legalization
RFK Jr. is one of the few presidential candidates who strongly supports the legalization of marijuana. However, his stance is not just a liberal “right to use.” Rather, he places emphasis on the idea of using tax revenues from marijuana legalization to establish “detox centers” across the United States.
“America has a silent pandemic of addiction. Instead of locking people in prison, we should provide healing,” says RFK Jr., who not only seeks to free citizens from unjust punishment through legalization, but also to utilize its social by-products in a positive way.
His plan is to use financial resources obtained through federal taxation of marijuana to develop a treatment infrastructure for people suffering from drug addiction and mental illness. This is not just deregulation, but an attempt to redefine public well-being.
Personal Experience Inspires Policy: Recovery from Dependency and Realism
RFK Jr.’s own experience is at the root of these claims. He suffered from heroin addiction in his youth and recovered. He has been sober and abstained from drugs for nearly 40 years, and his recovery journey forms the framework of his drug policy.
This personal background gives him a sense of balance that does not allow him to fall into either “extreme optimism” or “excessive fear.” Although he expresses concern about the psychological side effects of modern marijuana, which contains high concentrations of THC, he said, **”I don’t think marijuana is so harmful that it destroys people’s lives.”** He has repeatedly emphasized his emphasis on policy decisions based on scientific evidence.
His vision is not a “society where people can smoke marijuana freely,” but a “society where people can recover and reconnect through drug policies.”
New horizons in psychedelics
It’s not just marijuana that is drawing attention to RFK Jr.’s policies. He also actively supports the medical use of psychedelic drugs such as MDMA and psilocybin.
He has repeatedly stated on social media that “psychedelics have the power to heal people’s deep wounds,” and has shown a strong interest in their potential as an alternative treatment for PTSD and depression. He places particular importance on their application to war veterans and veterans suffering from trauma, saying, “As a country, we have a responsibility to provide them with the most effective treatment.”
These comments are said to be based on the fact that his own family and close friends have overcome trauma through psychedelics, which gives his policy ideas a sense of reality.
"Psychedelic Policy" as a Challenge to Vested Interests
RFK Jr.’s support for psychedelics goes beyond simply updating medical technology. He criticizes the FDA and the medical industry for suppressing promising treatments to protect existing profit structures.
“There is an unfair bias within the FDA against medical treatments based on the power of nature and the body, such as psychedelics, peptide therapy, raw milk, and stem cell therapy,” says RFK Jr., who simultaneously demands “transparency” and “loyalty to science” in medical policy.
While this stance has been criticized by liberals as “conspiratorial,” it has garnered strong support from many groups who distrust the current medical system, especially natural therapy-oriented citizens and veterans.
Towards a politics of healing: from "crime" to "care"
The core of RFK Jr.’s drug policy is the shift from a “punishing society” to a “caring society.”
In the past, marijuana use in the United States was directly linked to criminal penalties that could destroy one’s life. Now, more than 25 states have legalized marijuana for recreational use, and its medical use is spreading across the United States. However, under federal law, marijuana is still classified as a Schedule I drug (the most dangerous drug), and legal entanglements continue.
RFK Jr. aims to resolve these contradictions and design a system in which marijuana and psychedelics are treated as “means of social treatment” rather than as “criminal targets.” What lies ahead is the elimination of discrimination and disparities surrounding drugs, the redistribution of medical resources, and a change in people’s awareness.
In closing: Inheriting the Kennedy family's "prayer"
RFK Jr. is a “bloodline politician” with legendary politicians such as John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy in his family, but he is also a new-age candidate in that he “puts the restoration of the soul at the center of politics.”
His policies seek a third path of “healing and reintegration” that goes beyond the binary opposition of “freedom or control.” Marijuana and psychedelics are merely a means to that end. The goal is to build a society where people can reconnect with themselves and with society.
His vision is a question for the “reconstruction of medical care, justice, and mental health” in modern America.
