Healthcare group urges RFK Jr to resign after remarks on cocaine and toilet seats
Source: The Guardian
Fri 13 Feb 2026 18.17 EST
First published on Fri 13 Feb 2026 16.51 EST
A prominent healthcare advocacy group is calling for the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, to step down from his post after he downplayed Covid risks by saying: Im not scared of a germ. I used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats. Kennedy, who was appointed secretary of the federal health and human services (HHS) department despite his avowed anti-vaccine activism, made that remark on the 12 February episode of Theo Vons podcast This Past Weekend.
The president of Protect Our Care, Brad Woodhouse, issued a one-word statement on Kennedys comments: Resign. The group added that Kennedys comment about cocaine which as recently as 2023 was involved in nearly 30,000 overdose deaths in a year in the US continues to lay bare why he is the most dangerous
person ever to lead such an important federal agency.
Kennedy on the podcast mentioned the drug in reference to his continued attendance at in-person recovery meetings during the pandemic. Like, if I dont, if I dont treat it, which means for me going to meetings every day, its just bad for my life, said Kennedy, who has spoken publicly about past struggles with drug addiction.
The commentary marked another controversial moment for Kennedy during his first year as health secretary for the Donald Trump White House. He has also faced criticism over his handling of US measles outbreaks that have left several people dead from a disease that had been declared eliminated from the country in 2000.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/13/healthcare-groups-rfk-jr-resign-cocaine-toilet-seats
Red Mountain
(2,336 posts)why do you guys have to be such buzz kills?
travelingthrulife
(5,141 posts)UpInArms
(54,919 posts)Wasnt Hunter Biden condemned for past drug use, even though he had been clean and gone through recovery?
There were many revelations for the jury in the Hunter Biden gun trial. Prosecutors offered a journey through Hunter Biden's crack addiction from 2015 to 2019, a time in which he introduced others to the drug and sought crack from just about anywhere he could find it.
niyad
(132,160 posts)yardwork
(69,304 posts)Srkdqltr
(9,729 posts)Don't be silly.
UpInArms
(54,919 posts)Who the guardians of pedophiles attempted to destroy for being the son of the president
Versus a brainworm quarter wit past tense junky running the department of human services, responsible for the nations health policy
No equating at all
Nululu
(1,116 posts)Yuck
ironman99
(156 posts)No, he misheard his doctor. What the doctor actually said was that his brain looks like a dead worm.
maptap22
(273 posts)and then he goes and makes this admission. Why would he tell the world that disgusting fact? We need to bring shame back! I did many things in my youth that I am not proud of so I keep it to myself - geez.
Tim Walz was 100% correct - they are all just so weird!
Botany
(77,252 posts)RFK Jr., Im not scared of a germ.
Modern Science, There are no such things as germs but we have bacteria, viruses, fungi, amoebas,
blue green algae aka Cyanobacteria, protozoans, and other things that are all around us by the
billions but we have no GERMS. They are called microbes.
If you wanted to fail microbiology @ The Ohio University you would talk about germs. Now
way back in the day of medical science with men called Leeuwenhoek who invented the microscope
and said, Look @ all the little beasties when he looked @ drop of water under his microscope
and a Dr. Joesph Lister who understood that having an antiseptic environment was critical for
people to survive surgery because people would survive the operation but would later die from some
kind of infection and modern germ theory was founded but we have moved on since then.
RFK Jr., Im not scared of a germ. Good Kennedy skip your tetanus shot, your pneumonia vaccine, your
shingles vaccines, drink unpasteurized milk, and eat that 2 day old sushi that has been sitting out.
It is as if the rich fuckers like Tiel, Musk, Trump, and others want us to die.
raccoon
(32,381 posts)vapor2
(4,448 posts)Dulcinea
(10,056 posts)That's exactly what they want. As far as they're concerned, we're all useless eaters who are taking up resources better used by the upper classes.
ck4829
(37,671 posts)myohmy2
(3,721 posts)...is what the fearless leader and the Republicans gave us for a US health secretary...
...toilet seat...?
...kinky...
TheRickles
(3,359 posts)Why not give him credit for working every day to control his addiction? Of course it's easy to make fun of the extreme things he did decades ago, but if he's modeling successful recovery from substance abuse, that is to his credit. You don't need to agree with his stance on vaccines to acknowledge this aspect of him. Life, and people, are more complex than this black vs. white framing. He's not endorsing cocaine use, just admitting past mistakes.
And his statement about germs could be read as belief in his own immune system, though stated in somewhat macho terms. Germs are everywhere, but we don't need to live our lives in constant fear of them. Our natural protections usually work, unless we undermine them with lifestyle factors like poor nutrition, chronic stress, and substance abuse - and a whole range of socio-economic protections that Trump is busy undermining. So I admire some things about RFK Jr., and intensely dislike his boss's policies. Shades of gray....
Dr. T
(629 posts)but deterioration of white matter in the brain due to heroin use is irreversible. It affects decision-making ability and ability to control behavior, especially under stress.
If not for his family name and associated wealth, he wouldn't be where he is.
niyad
(132,160 posts)On what evidence do you base this unique assertion?
TheRickles
(3,359 posts)Like, if I dont, if I dont treat it, which means for me going to meetings every day, its just bad for my life.
Of course there's no way to objectively validate his daily attendance at NA meetings, but I'm inclined to believe it. Given how many other strange behaviors he has acknowledged, it's hard to see why he'd lie about this.
travelingthrulife
(5,141 posts)carcass left in central park were not very long ago. I am guessing he was on some sort of drug then.
I think no one believes him because he's a liar.
Dr. T
(629 posts)I consumed some seriously nefarious stuff in my younger days, but I never hallucinated a decapitated whale head in my car.
Torchlight
(6,763 posts)he goes farther and farther off the rails everyday... that's not a particularly succesful coping mechanism.
Cirsium
(3,909 posts)The problem is not that he did stupid things in the past.
He portrayed measles vaccination long proven safe as a personal choice.
He promotes spurious treatments.
He downplays the seriousness of contagious disease. That is what his cocaine/toilet remark is about, not his recovery from addiction, nor his amazing super wonderful immune system.
cannabis_flower
(3,930 posts)Some times there are things that are better left unsaid. Too much information. Ewww.
Orrex
(67,078 posts)Why on Earth would he resign? Hes exactly where he thinks he deserves to be.
Vinca
(53,927 posts)3Hotdogs
(15,336 posts)Everyone likes a fart joke but this is even better.
S.N.L tonight?
niyad
(132,160 posts)Last edited Sat Feb 14, 2026, 12:28 PM - Edit history (1)
am rather clueless when it comes to cocaine habits, but I do not recall ever hearing of such. I do remember Billy Crystal talking about people snorting lines of real snow once when it snowed in Hollywood and they plowed the snow into nice piles. But then, Crystal is a comic.
drray23
(8,724 posts)Last edited Sat Feb 14, 2026, 10:03 PM - Edit history (1)
So, you go to the bathroom and use the toilet seat cover to make your lines and snort it.
niyad
(132,160 posts)FakeNoose
(41,478 posts)It's amazing that he has lasted this long. Chump loves crazy people, especially if they are also ineffective.
But getting more media coverage than Chump is a cardinal sin and Bob Kennedy Jr. is guilty x100!
BattleRow
(2,395 posts)Emporer Lord of the Flies...with no clothes on...
Hope22
(4,720 posts)Remember when if you ran away from school in third grade your reputation was toast FOREVER?
dalton99a
(94,060 posts)"Yellow cocaine works, too"
Blue Owl
(59,006 posts)Is how by this point, RFK Jr isnt a victim of his own blithering stupidity. How the fuck is this rancid colostomy bag still alive?
Turbineguy
(40,033 posts)ificandream
(11,836 posts)Outrage is all part of the maga scheme. They love it.
Justice matters.
(9,753 posts)Just like they don't think his mob boss has killed enough Americans yet.
Otherwise, they would get together and remove both of these murderous monsters.
CousinIT
(12,515 posts)I saw the advert last night.
Pffft.
usonian
(25,082 posts)toilet seats.

(satire, I think)
vapor2
(4,448 posts)but he WON"T. AND Lindsey should really be concerned about measles in his state
Evolve Dammit
(21,761 posts)have another pandemic/ epidemic with this asshole at the helm. "Let Bobby Go Nuts." DJT
LudwigPastorius
(14,673 posts)...and that assessment has nothing to do with him being a former addict.
twodogsbarking
(18,668 posts)Rocknation
(45,006 posts)a symptom of dementia?
Rocknation
Clouds Passing
(7,893 posts)KewlKat
(5,809 posts)RainCaster
(13,684 posts)Not in public! Especially when you run the DOH.
purr-rat beauty
(1,226 posts)A schedule 1 drug....something that "traffickers" are being blown up for
Go figure
calimary
(89,898 posts)Initech
(108,660 posts)You think these psychos are giving up their power easily? Nope. Worst HHS director in history.
Rhiannon12866
(255,037 posts)Really American host Chip Franklin breaks down RFK Jr. admitting that the snorted the white stuff off of a toilet seat! - 02/13/2026.