I applaud President Trump’s January 29 executive order known as the Great American Recovery Initiative, but I believe it should be renamed the Bill W. and Dr. Bob Initiative, after the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous. Both men suffered from severe alcoholism until one fateful day in December 1934, when Bill Wilson experienced a spiritual awakening – described as a blinding white light – after demanding that God show Himself. Bill also described the sensation of standing on a mountain as the wind of the Spirit blew through him, and he immediately felt liberated, his obsession with alcohol gone.
This conversion experience provided the basis for Bill W.’s spiritual transformation and recovery from alcoholism, and led to the twelve-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous, which Bill W. co-authored with Dr. Robert Smith founded. Dr. Bob also suffered from severe alcoholism, and Bill W. helped him quit. In June, Dr. Bob had his last drink. Together with Sister Ignatia, Dr. Bob to pass on his freedom from alcohol to others by providing medical care and physical counseling to thousands of alcoholics in Akron, Ohio, and across the country.
The reason I think President Trump’s initiative is Bill W. and Dr. Bob Initiative could be called, is because, like AA, it recognizes the importance of community, health and faith. These elements must be central to the plan to be successful. The White House announcement said the goal is to “coordinate a national response to the disease of addiction across government, health care, faith communities, and the private sector to save lives, restore families, strengthen our communities, and build the Great American Recovery.”
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Trump’s initiative was quickly followed this week by the $100 million HHS Safety Through Recovery, Engagement and Evidence-based Treatment and Supports (STREETS) program, which will focus on addiction, mental health, homelessness and crisis intervention.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during an announcement about mental health and addiction initiatives in Washington, DC, on February 2, 2026. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
This is a much-needed program and I was pleased to see it led by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., himself a recovered heroin addict, along with his cousin, former Representative Patrick Kennedy, a recovering alcoholic whom I interviewed and who proved to be a powerful and persuasive voice for recovery.
The reason I think President Trump’s initiative is Bill W. and Dr. Bob Initiative could be called, is because, like AA, it recognizes the importance of community, health and faith.
Keep in mind that denial is a major part of the problem for most addicts, and deep faith, along with role models, is a crucial way to overcome that denial. As the White House noted in its fact sheet, “48.4 million Americans, or 16.8% of our nation’s population, suffer from addiction, but few who need treatment get it or think they need it.”
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During President Trump’s first term in 2019, when he declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency, he also acknowledged that his brother Fred had “a very, very, very hard life” before succumbing to alcoholism and heart disease. Trump said the same thing to me when I interviewed him at the White House in July 2020, and I could see how deeply the loss affected him personally.
Trump’s heart is clearly in the right place when it comes to the current initiative — and he’s not alone. The announcement of the new federal plan to combat drug and alcohol addiction included Kathryn Burgum, a former alcoholic and wife of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, as well as United States Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, who told the story of his son who died of a drug overdose at the event.
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Increasing awareness is a lofty goal, along with recognizing how difficult it is to break addictions. The role of faith and the church needs to be emphasized, but so do the scientific tools that make miraculous recovery possible – from buprenorphine, a partial opioid agonist, to naltrexone, an opioid antagonist that blocks both euphoria and craving. GLP-1 agonists also show promise in reducing alcohol and drug cravings and reducing alcohol consumption, in part by slowing gastric emptying. Medically assisted therapy for opioids – specifically methadone, naltrexone and buprenorphine – has been shown to reduce opioid-related deaths by more than 50%.
As I wrote in my new book “The Miracles Among Us,” so-called gentle miracles come from a complicated combination of science and faith.
All of these resources must be paid for, and the federal government must help make them more available. Every primary care physician like me should have the unrestricted ability to prescribe these life-saving medications, and every major church and synagogue should have a federally subsidized drug and alcohol addiction recovery program.
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Addiction destroys not just individuals, but entire families and communities. Recovery from addiction is a multi-stage process that involves faith, access to quality health care, and committed leaders who can identify with the problem.
Ninety years after Bill W. and Dr. Bob helped us on the path to overcoming addiction, their caring, spiritual approach is more important than ever.
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