Federal Agency Dedicated to Mental Illness and Addiction Faces Huge Cuts

Trump is Burning Down SAMSHA

SAMSHA Braces for 50% Staff Reduction

The New York Times

Originally posted March 13, 2025

Federal Agency Dedicated to Mental Illness and Addiction Faces Huge Cuts The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has already closed offices and could see staff numbers reduced by 50 percent.

Every day, Dora Dantzler-Wright and her colleagues distribute overdose reversal drugs on the streets of Chicago. They hold training sessions on using them and help people in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction return to their jobs and families.

They work closely with the federal government through an agency that monitors their productivity, connects them with other like-minded groups and dispenses critical funds that keep their work going.

But over the last few weeks, Ms. Wright’s phone calls and emails to Washington have gone unanswered. Federal advisers from the agency’s local office — who supervise her group, the Chicago Recovering Communities Coalition, as well as addiction programs throughout six Midwestern states and 34 tribes — are gone. “We just continue to do the work without any updates from the feds at all,” Ms. Wright said. “But we’re lost.”

The article is paywalled here.

Here is a summary:

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a federal agency addressing mental illness and addiction, is facing significant staff cuts, potentially up to 50%. This is causing concern among those who rely on the agency for support and funding, such as community organizations providing addiction recovery services.   

SAMHSA plays a critical role in overseeing the 988 suicide hotline, regulating opioid treatment clinics, funding drug courts, and providing resources for addiction prevention and treatment. While overdose fatalities have been declining, they remain significantly higher than in 2019, and experts fear that these cuts will hinder the agency's ability to address the ongoing behavioral health crises.   

The cuts are happening through layoffs and "voluntary separations," and there is speculation that SAMHSA could be folded into another agency or have its funding and staff reduced to 2019 levels. This has raised concerns about reduced oversight, accountability, and the potential for negative impacts on relapse rates and overall health outcomes.

White House Ethics Lawyer Finally Reaches His Breaking Point

And give up all this?

Bess Levin
Vanity Fair
Originally posted July 26, 2018

Here is an excerpt:

Politico reports that Passantino, one of the top lawyers in the White House, has plans to quit the administration by the end of the summer, leaving “a huge hole in the White House’s legal operation.” Despite the blow his loss will represent, it’s unlikely anyone will be able to convince him to stay and take one for the team, given he’s been working in what Passantino allies see as an “impossible” job. To recap: Passantino’s primary charge—the president—has refused to follow precedent and release his tax returns, and has held onto his business assets while in office. His son Eric, who runs said business along with Don Jr., says he gives his dad quarterly financial updates. He’s got a hotel down the road from the White House where foreign governments regularly stay as a way to kiss the ring. Two of his top advisers—his daughter and son-in-law—earned at least $82 million in outside income last year while serving in government. His Cabinet secretaries regularly compete with each other for the title of Most Blatantly Corrupt Trump Official. And Passantino is supposed to be “the clean-up guy” for all of it, a close adviser to the White House joked to Politico, which they can do because they’re not the one with a gig that would make even the most hardened Washington veteran cry.

The info is here.

DOJ corporate compliance watchdog resigns citing Trump's conduct

Olivia Beavers
The Hill
Originally published July 2, 2017

A top Justice Department official who serves as a corporate compliance watchdog has left her job, saying she felt she could no longer force companies to comply with the government's ethics laws when members of the administration she works for have conducted themselves in a manner that she claims would not be tolerated.

Hui Chen had served in the department’s compliance counsel office from November 2015 until she resigned in June, breaking her silence in a LinkedIn post last week highlighted by The International Business Times, which points to the Trump administration’s behavior as the reason for her job change.

“To sit across the table from companies and question how committed they were to ethics and compliance felt not only hypocritical, but very much like shuffling the deck chair on the Titanic," Chen wrote.

The article is here.