WASHINGTON — While many details are still emerging, a clearer picture is coming into focus around President Trump’s new executive order aimed at addressing the nation’s substance use disorder crisis.
Last week, Trump signed an executive order creating the White House Great American Recovery Initiative, an effort designed to align federal agencies, health care systems, faith-based organizations and private partners around addiction prevention and long-term recovery.
On Monday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a $100 million federal investment tied to the initiative. Kennedy said the funding will focus on addressing homelessness, combating opioid addiction and improving public safety by expanding treatment programs that emphasize recovery and self-sufficiency.
A major component of the effort is the Safety Through Recovery, Engagement, and Evidence-based Treatment and Supports program, known as the STREETS Initiative. According to Kennedy, the program will fund targeted outreach, psychiatric care, medical stabilization and crisis intervention, while connecting people experiencing homelessness and addiction with stable housing and long-term treatment options.
Kennedy said faith-based organizations will be fully eligible to participate in the programs.
Meanwhile, Kennedy criticized approaches used under the Biden administration, including harm reduction strategies and housing-first models, arguing they enabled continued drug use.
Those comments come as the nation saw a historic decline in overdose deaths during President Biden’s final year in office. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdose deaths dropped by about 27% in 2024 compared to 2023. Public health experts attributed the decrease to multiple factors, including expanded access to naloxone, the medication that reverses opioid overdoses.
Kennedy also announced a new $10 million Assisted Outpatient Treatment grant program aimed at adults with serious mental illness. Assisted Outpatient Treatment, or AOT, is a civil court-ordered, community-based mental health program for people who are unable to receive traditional outpatient treatment and may not be able to live safely in their communities.
The announcements coincide with SAMHSA’s first allocation of its 2026 annual block grants, totaling $794 million. Of that amount, $319 million will support community mental health services for adults with serious mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbance, while $475 million will go toward the agency’s Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grant program to prevent and treat substance abuse.
In addition, Kennedy said the Administration for Children and Families has expanded federal funding eligibility for medications used to treat opioid use disorder. States and tribes can now receive a 50% federal match to provide buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone to parents when children are at imminent risk of entering foster care but can safely remain at home with access to treatment.
“When we deny parents access to affordable, effective treatment for opioid addiction, we tear families apart,” Kennedy said. “Using Title IV-E funding to provide life-saving medications keeps families together and moves our system toward recovery and prevention.”
