The federal agency that oversees mental health and addiction treatment on Tuesday made major cuts to programs across the behavioral health field, according to eight sources with knowledge of the decisions.
While the exact funding cuts enacted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration remain unclear, the scope is clearly vast. Multiple sources told STAT that the number of overall grants canceled could number as high as 2,800, with the total dollars affected as high as $1.9 billion — over one-quarter of the agency’s overall budget. NPR first reported the cuts.
One high-level SAMHSA source told STAT that the agency’s staff were not aware of the cuts, which were not planned in consultation with agency staff or announced internally.
In letters informing grantee organizations of the funding cuts, SAMHSA said it was canceling grants to better align its spending with agency priorities, and informed recipient organizations that the decision was final. Documents reviewed by STAT showed that the cuts affect organizations providing a broad array of services, including comprehensive opioid treatment; addiction care for people experiencing homelessness; helping adults transition out of prison; HIV and hepatitis C prevention; and more.
“If these terminations stand, it’s going to put people’s recovery in question — the disruption is going to be immediate,” said Hannah Wesolowski, chief advocacy officer at the National Alliance on Mental Health. “It’s shortsighted and dangerous.”
STAT Plus: Trump cuts have decimated the federal addiction and mental health agency
The cuts did appear to spare certain programs, however, like Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics, specialized facilities that offer 24/7 mental health and addiction care.
In its first year in power, the Trump administration has decimated SAMHSA, laying off hundreds of staffers and gutting entire teams devoted to school-based mental health or overseeing grant programs that worked to advocate for the rights of adults with serious mental illness. In 2025, the agency already terminated roughly $2 billion in grants for state behavioral health programs and overdose prevention.
It has never appointed a leader for the agency, instead installing an addiction counselor, Art Kleinschmidt, as a top aide and leaving him to run the agency as the highest-ranking deputy. Kleinschmidt left SAMHSA last month for a role at the Department of Homeland Security. The current acting head of the agency is Chris Carroll, a two-decade agency veteran.
The latest cuts are especially notable given that health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees SAMHSA’s parent agency, is in long-term recovery from addiction to heroin and alcohol, and while running for president in 2024 repeatedly pointed to the addiction and mental health crisis as a top priority.
SAMHSA did not immediately respond to STAT’s request for comment.
O. Rose Broderick contributed reporting.
STAT’s coverage of chronic health issues is supported by a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies. Our financial supporters are not involved in any decisions about our journalism.
