Former congressman Patrick Kennedy offered an unexpected defense of his controversial cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday, arguing that “on addiction policy, I believe he is the leader we need to meet this moment.”
In a Washington Post letter to the editor, Patrick Kennedy cited his cousin’s unconditional support of his use of antidepressants and, later, his recovery from opioid addiction, during which he relied on the medication buprenorphine. Kennedy Jr. has criticized antidepressants in the past. And though he is himself in recovery from opioid addiction, he has said little about buprenorphine or methadone, another effective but often-stigmatized medication used to treat opioid addiction, prompting concerns among many addiction medicine experts.
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