Letters to The Trump Administration: Dr. Drew for SAMHSA Administrator

In keeping with my "Open Letters to the New Administraton" Theme

Yesterday, I wrote an open letter to Dr. Oz, who is the appointee for the director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. I'm trying to imagine what the incoming Trump administration would find plausible and, at the same time, make sincere recommendations. This series of articles are open letters to the administration and to individuals in the administration directly. I'm providing advice; I hope they will take it. So, I wrote to Dr. Oz and provided sincere guidance on what I thought CMS should do to succeed.

Today, I'm writing to Bobby Kennedy Jr, the appointee for the directorship of HHS, regarding the appointment of the administrator in charge of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. I think that should be Dr. Drew Pinsky. They are appointing stars from TV anyway, and he's one, but I think he'll do a good job. The following letter is written to persuade Mr. Kennedy. If any of my readers happen to know Mr. Kennedy, this will be a lot more effective if he reads it. Feel free to share. I’ll make it easy:

Full disclosure: Dr. Drew is a reader, and I consider him a friend. I probably should've asked him about this before I wrote it, but I didn’t. Drew, if you're annoyed with this, my apologies!

Thanks, all, for reading.

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Dear Mr. Kennedy,

First, welcome to one of the most challenging roles you’ll ever take on: secretary of Health and Human Services. This is a cabinet-level position with immense responsibility, overseeing public health, healthcare, and social services. It’s not for the faint of heart, and I don’t envy the volume of work you have ahead.

Among the many decisions you’ll face is appointing the next administrator of SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration). SAMHSA, established in 1992, has the crucial mission of addressing substance use disorders and mental health challenges, which continue to devastate families and communities nationwide. Whoever you appoint to lead SAMHSA will report directly to you. Anyone who's watching knows Mr. Trump likes entertainers. He has a good eye for them and an excellent eye for spectacle. Whoever you pick needs to fit within that mold, and there aren't that many entertaining physicians out there.

We’ve all been affected by the opioid epidemic. My sister died from an overdose, and I’m sure you’ve experienced loss, too. This crisis demands a leader who understands addiction on a personal and professional level. Someone who gets into medical science but also knows how to connect with the public and deliver a message that moves people to act.

That’s why I’m recommending Dr. Drew Pinsky. He’s a board-certified internal medicine doctor and addiction medicine specialist who’s spent decades treating patients and educating the public. Dr. Drew got his start working in psychiatric hospitals during the early days of the AIDS epidemic. He saw the need for clear, accessible health communication and made it his mission to inform while entertaining. It might be worth listening to my podcast appearance with Dr. Drew, which is linked here. He paid a price for this public advocacy—I can't say more about it because it's his story to tell, but he knows how hard it is to advocate and have vulnerable physicians who do so can be.

You might know him from Loveline, where he educated millions of young people about sex, relationships, and health. It was smart, it was engaging, and it worked. That same skill set—taking complex issues and making them understandable and actionable—is exactly what SAMHSA needs right now.

Is he controversial? Sure. Some people take issue with his stance on vaccines, but let’s be honest, Mr. Kennedy—that’s not going to be a dealbreaker for you. What matters—to me, and to other physicians who need SAMSHA to be effective as an agency— is that he’s deeply committed to reducing suffering and death. He’s worked tirelessly to integrate addiction treatment into mainstream healthcare and has never stopped seeing patients, even when he didn’t have to. This was also David Foster Wallace's criteria for evaluating John McCain. You can judge a man by what he does when he makes decisions against his personal interest but in the interest of the greater good. So, even if you discount everything Dr. Drew has ever said on a podcast or a TV show, he kept caring for individual patients. He didn't have to do this. He could've just been a celebrity. But his duty to care for others has continued to drive behavior that I can tell you, quite personally, can be a weight on the heart of anyone.

Appointing Dr. Drew wouldn’t just be a good idea for SAMHSA; it would align with the values of your administration. Your boss understands the power of compelling messaging better than most politicians. The appointments have consistently been for people who can communicate effectively. Dr. Drew fits that mold perfectly. He’s a talking head; he’s also been in the trenches.

Some people will be outraged—that's “on brand” for the Trump administration. After the outrage, we need people who understand what those suffering from mental illness and addiction are going to need. I'm not worried that Dr. Drew is going to get that wrong. He's not a psychiatrist, and that's probably for the best because many of these problems cross the line between general medical conditions and psychiatric conditions. His internal medicine training and practice prepared him well to understand this.

The challenges SAMHSA faces are enormous. Opiates are just one part of the problem. We’re also grappling with stimulant addiction, novel substances, and the long-term consequences of overprescribed psychiatric medications. He will be acceptable to conservatives, which is probably table stakes in a Republican administration. However, I think the decisions Dr Pinsky would make would be for the public good.

Dr. Pinsky’s combination of clinical expertise and media savvy—he’s the best interviewer I have ever spoken with— makes him uniquely qualified for this role. He understands the science, the human impact, and how to get a message across. He’s the kind of leader who can make SAMHSA a more relevant, effective organization—one that serves the health of the American people.

So, Mr. Kennedy, I urge you to consider this recommendation. Dr. Drew Pinsky has the experience, compassion, and communication skills to lead SAMHSA into a new era. He has a lot of questions about vaccines, just like you do, so he's not gonna get kicked out of the party. He can probably “hang” with the kinds of celebrities who will be around the table in the new administration, and he might even be friends with Oz at CMS already? At a certain point, you're probably gonna need a celebrity intervention-style conversation inside the administration itself, and Dr. Drew has a long track record of handling these!

Thank you for your time and attention. And Dr. Drew, if you’re reading this—thanks for being a friend, and I hope you’re okay with me throwing your name into the ring.

Good luck, Mr. Kennedy. None of this will be easy, but it’s worth doing well.

Sincerely,
Owen Scott Muir, M.D.