PRESS RELEASE

Date: 4-9-03

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

A New Federal Law, The Child Medication Safety Act (H.R. 1170) Would Prohibit Schools From Coercing Parents to Drug their Children.

Who Could Oppose That?  

The fact that a group called "Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder" (CHADD) has rallied their troops to oppose a new federal bill called the "Child Medication Safety Act 2003" should come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with this organization.   The bill, H.R. 1170, simply states that parents should not be coerced into drugging their children.   One must wonder how an organization claiming to work with parents, could ever disagree and oppose a measure which has been enacted to protect children from coerced psychiatric drugging.   Perhaps the reason is that CHADD is funded by the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture the very drugs that parents are being forced to drug their children with.  

In response to the new federal law, CHADD has claimed that only a "handful" of highly publicized and isolated events of such coercion have occurred.  Surely CHADD must be aware that the issue is such a national concern, that already 4 states have had to pass laws to curb this abusive and one would think unconstitutional practice (Connecticut, Illinois, Minnesota and Virginia).  And this year, 15 more states have introduced similar laws including Arizona, Hawaii, Texas, Alaska, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, Michigan, Texas and West Virginia. So much for CHADD's theory.   What does CHADD think?  That legislators across the nation went to all the trouble to enact laws simply based on a few parents' horror stories?   

If one cares to look deep enough, there are some issues about CHADD that could explain their motivation.  For example,  in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA)1995 report on Methylphenidate (Ritalin), it pointed out the conflict of interest between CHADD and Ritalin's manufacturer, Ciba Geigy (now Novartis), stating: "It has recently come to the attention of the DEA, that Ciba-Geigy contributed $748,000 to CHADD from 1991 to 1994.  The DEA has concerns that the depth of the financial relationship with the manufacturer was not well-known by the public..."

Today, CHADD continues to receive money from the drug companies and promotes drug solutions for what could easily be educational problems.  

Even more to the point at hand, the same report states,  "Of particular concern is that most of the ADHD literature prepared for the public consumption by CHADD and other groups and available to parents, does not address the abuse potential or actual abuse of methylphenidate.  Instead, methylphenidate (usually referred to as Ritalin by these groups) is routinely portrayed as a benign, mild substance that is not associated with abuse or serious side effects.  In reality however, there is an abundance of scientific literature which indicates that methylphenidate shares the same abuse potential as other Schedule II stimulants." 

The only issue that any organization should be concerned with is a parent’s right to choose, and a parents' right to informed consent in order to make the wisest decision about their child's health and educational needs.  CHADD and pro mental health groups do not supply this much needed information to parents--not about the subjectivity of the disorder (ADHD which has no scientific evidence to validate it as a physical abnormality) or about the dangers of the drugs being forced onto millions of our children.   It is hard to imagine any organization claiming to have the interest of parents and children's rights, expressing opposition over this issue.  After all, H.R. 1170 would ultimately strengthen parental rights and protect children from being forced to take cocaine like drugs as a condition of attending public school.  

The basic truth is that not one of these mental health coalition members that oppose H.R. 1170 took any pro-active action at the state level to curb the massive problem that is occurring.  In fact, parents helped initiate each state law, stemming from the abuses that some of CHADD's coalition member groups should have prevented. In addition, at each state hearing these same coalition members opposed the actions.  

Teachers are not instruments to promote mental health research.  Teachers function to recognize learning styles and provide appropriate instructions based on each child’s basic educational need. The mental health coalition’s position that teachers are a vital part in providing observations to the diagnosing professionals cannot be more dangerous.  This approach has been a complete failure.  Effective language based approaches to behavior is the only part in which the teacher's role exists.  After all, communication directly affects behavior.  

 For More Information visit our website www.ablechild.org