In late March, the Trump Administration announced it would revoke $11.4 billion in COVID-era funding for addiction services and other mental health programs. This, unfortunately, comes at a time when people have begun to seek help and receive treatment.
“Services will be dropped in the middle. Bang, the clinic is closing,” Keith Humphreys, an addiction researcher at Stanford University, told NPR. “It’s a brutal way to make these cuts.”
A spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a statement stating that the program will be frozen effective immediately.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” the statement said.
However, it is inaccurate to imply that the funding is used exclusively for the COVID-19 pandemic and that the pandemic is now “non-existent.”
States will be forced to cut funding for substance abuse and mental health counseling and terminate existing contracts for outpatient and residential services. Congress provided these funds through Sept. 30, and states relied on them to be available.
In addition, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is being merged into a new organization known as the Administration for a Healthy America as part of restructuring.
This will not only rescind funds, including addiction-care grants that have reduced overdose deaths, but also leave an expected 20,000 federal employees without jobs, according to NPR.
Another sector the administration is going after is SSRIs, in a new executive order aiming to end the “over-reliance on medication and treatments.” When President Donald Trump appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, he instructed him to assess the “threat” prescription selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants, and weight loss drugs pose to the American people.
The executive order focuses specifically on children with Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” commission, which seeks to end the “childhood chronic disease crisis” within 100 days and develop a strategy to respond to it within 180 days.
In 2024, Kennedy wrongfully speculated that antidepressant use could be linked to school shootings and proceeded to compare SSRIs to heroin addiction.
“Listen, I know people, including members of my family, who’ve had a much worse time getting off of SSRIs than people have getting off heroin,” he told Senator Tina Smith from Minnesota. Kennedy has also publicly stated he was previously addicted to heroin.
Antidepressants can be lifesaving for people struggling with depression, OCD, anxiety, and other mental health conditions when alternative treatments like talk therapy aren’t working alone, and can especially be useful in addition. They work by increasing levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps regulate mood, appetite, sleep, memory, social behavior, and libido in the brain, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Depression is a major risk factor for suicide. SSRIs have been known to alleviate the symptoms associated with depression, improving coping mechanisms and reducing the risk of suicide overall.
Suicide is a significant public health crisis — according to the CDC, 49,000 people died by suicide in 2022, which is about one death every 11 minutes. Additionally, 12.3 million adults seriously thought about suicide, and 1.6 million made a suicide attempt. However, they reached a record high in the U.S. in 2024, rising to 14.7 deaths per 100,000 individuals, surpassing the 2022 rate of 14.2.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young adults ages 10-24, second only to unintentional injuries. This age group accounts for 15% of all suicides.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump Administration’s cuts, allowing programs to continue receiving federal funding for now; however, thousands of workers have already been laid off, and many programs are unsure whether they can survive long-term, not knowing when the judge’s ruling will be lifted.
Regardless, it is clear that these issues are no longer a priority, even as the country grapples with record-high suicide rates and ongoing addiction crises. The result is fewer resources, more stigma, and greater shame for individuals who already struggle to access care.
Even more alarming is the platform given to Kennedy, whose scientifically unsupported remarks about SSRIs dangerously conflate antidepressants with street drugs and fuel widespread misinformation. Statements like these do more than mislead — they instill fear, discourage treatment, and contribute to a culture of silence around mental health.
When leaders push false narratives and dismantle support systems, the consequences are measured in lives lost, communities destabilized, and a generation of Americans left without the care they require and deserve.