HHS announces elimination of SAMHSA and fires thousands of its employees

On March 28, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced its own “restructuring,” virtually an elimination. The announcement was made by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. On April 1, the layoffs of 10,000 or more (euphemistically called “Reductions in Force”) followed. The moves created chaos in the agency that has governed substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, prevention, and recovery since 1992, when it was reorganized from the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration, which was established in 1973. For decades, there has been an agency focused on SUDs.