RFK Still Uses Psychedelics, Book From Journalist Who Allegedly Had An Affair With Him Implies
RFK psychedelics use isn’t just a tabloid whisper—it’s a Rorschach test for America’s uneasy truce with drug policy. Picture it: a health secretary who’s spent decades sober, yet reportedly still reaches for the psychedelic toolbox when the lights go dark and the questions get heavy. It’s part confession, part cultural shift, and it leaves a medicinal aftertaste—DMT, LSD, the whole shimmering catalog—floating over Washington like incense in a church that swears it doesn’t burn candles.
What’s alleged—and what it says about power, medicine, and myth
In a forthcoming book by journalist Olivia Nuzzi, the unnamed “politician” she describes sounds an awful lot like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now heading HHS and long a public champion of psychedelic therapy. The timeline tracks, as do the details—and according to an advance read reported by The New York Times, the politician claimed decades of sobriety while still using psychedelics, even trying dimethyltryptamine, better known as DMT. That’s the compound people say can flip the universe inside-out for a few compressed minutes, a ride that’s been likened to a near-death experience with better lighting and worse timekeeping. Nuzzi’s account touches only lightly on which substances were in play, but it adds to a portrait Kennedy himself has sketched at times—like recalling an early LSD trip as a teenager. As policy theater, it’s a paradox. As human behavior, it’s the oldest story in the book: you tinker with the mind because it breaks, and sometimes that tinkering turns you into the person at the podium. See the Times coverage here for the allegations and context: The New York Times.
- He has publicly praised the therapeutic potential of psychedelics while serving as HHS secretary.
- According to reporting on Nuzzi’s book, he allegedly told her he’d tried DMT despite long-term sobriety.
- He’s criticized prior federal approaches he framed as “suppression” of psychedelics and championed research access.
- He’s attended policy summits where psychedelics were openly discussed onstage, alongside other top officials.
- He has said the goal is expanded research and a path to legal psychedelic therapy for veterans on an accelerated timeline.
The federal tightrope: Schedule I laws, evolving science, and political theater
This is where the rubber meets the marble floor of the Capitol. Psychedelics remain Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act—defined as having no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse—while the science keeps nudging us toward a different story. If the nation’s top health official even appears to be dabbling in substances the federal government still criminalizes, the optics punch harder than a headline. At the same time, America’s drug policy is nothing if not contradictory. On cannabis, the Trump-era narrative veered from dire warnings—see how a federal prosecutor painted marijuana as a societal risk in Trump Administration Sees Marijuana As A ‘Hazard,’ Federal Prosecutor Says, Drawing Criticism From Lawmakers And Advocates—to technocratic tweaks that acknowledged reality on the ground, like easing penalties on workers in legal markets noted in Working In State-Legal Marijuana Sector Won’t Disqualify People From Certain Federal Benefits, New Trump Administration Rule Says. Meanwhile, the states keep racing ahead with their own maps and ambitions—see Virginia’s long game in Virginia Lawmakers To Unveil Marijuana Sales Legalization Plan They Want To Pass In 2026 Under New Governor. The policy frontier looks like a quilt sewn out of lab reports, courtrooms, and late-night confessions.
Veterans, trauma, and the moral center of the debate
Strip away the scandal sheen and the real heart of this story is medicine. Veterans return with invisible shrapnel—PTSD, depression, anxiety that sits in the lungs and never exhales. Psychedelic therapy isn’t a miracle cure; it’s a scaffolding and a ritual, with clinicians and integration, not a magic trip. But in the last few years we’ve seen enough promising data to push the medical establishment to the table. And the culture is catching up: if you want a visceral, human side to the research, watch the accounts of service members finding some peace with guided journeys in New Netflix Documentary Shows How Psychedelics Help Military Veterans Heal Trauma. The veteran angle isn’t politics; it’s a test of our seriousness. If a top health official believes these tools can help, the imperative is clear: rigorous trials, clinical guardrails, and transparent timelines for access.
The Bourdain test: say the quiet part out loud
So, does it matter if someone in power uses psychedelics while steering national health policy? It matters because trust matters. It matters because laws on the books still treat these substances like hand grenades, and leaders shouldn’t dodge the consequences the rest of the country faces. But it also matters because hypocrisy is easy and reform is hard. The honest path forward isn’t pearl-clutching or hero worship. It’s sunlight: disclose, regulate, research, and build systems that keep patients safe. Then update the law to reflect reality. That’s the grind—slow, frustrating, but necessary. And if you’re reading this on your phone between errands, wondering where this all lands, here’s the sober truth: the future of psychedelic and cannabis policy will be decided not by rumors or gotchas, but by data, doctors, and voters who demand coherence from a system that often prefers theater. When you’re ready to explore a different corner of the plant world, do it with taste and intention—start here: our shop.
