Amid all the head-spinning political developments that have emerged over the past month, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stayed somewhat out of the chaos. That is until today, when I saw my colleague Kiera's scoop revealing Kennedy's plans to send people struggling with addiction to "wellness farms" for three to four years to grow organic produce. Kennedy says he'd fund the government program with money generated through a sales tax on cannabis products.
At first, I cackled. What an astounding weirdo! But as I continued to read Kiera's report, the whole thing started to—wait for it—depress me. As Kiera writes:
On the farms, he said, residents would grow their own organic food—which would help them recover from addiction, “because a lot of the behavioral issues are food related. A lot of the illnesses are food related.” The idea that addiction is connected to consuming non-organic food is not backed by robust science—but it’s in line with many other unfounded claims that Kennedy has made in the past about pesticides and non-organic food causing chronic disease, behavioral problems, and autism.
Kennedy's strange beliefs may seem too wild to take seriously. But these come from a presidential candidate, from one of the most prominent political families in America. They're downright dangerous and, well, unfortunate. Good grief!
—Inae Oh
