RFK Jr Lauds Italy’s Addiction Treatment. Can It Work in the U.S.?

The Pulitzer Center's support for this reporting was made possible through the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).

As many as 50 million people in the United States are thought to struggle with an addiction to drugs or alcohol. The majority don't get treatment for it, and of those who do seek treatment, about half relapse within the first year.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has his own story of addiction and credits Alcoholics Anonymous with keeping him sober. But Secretary Kennedy has said that a treatment program in Italy that has shown great success in keeping people sober should serve as the vision for what addiction treatment could be here in the US.

On this episode of The Sunday Story, WBUR's Deborah Becker travels to Italy to see firsthand how a treatment program at a vineyard has created so many success stories.

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This episode was produced by Andrew Mambo. It was edited by Jenny Schmidt. Fact-checking help from Zazil Davis-Vasquez. It was engineered by Robert Rodriguez. 

Funding for this reporting was provided in part by the Pulitzer Center.