Parents may face jail over compulsory drug orders

November 5, 2002

By Charles Begley

29 September 2002

Parents of children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity

disorder (ADHD) will face jail under proposals in the new Mental

Health Bill if they refuse to drug their children, a psychiatrist has

warned.

Dr Bob Johnson, who is at the forefront of a campaign against the

increasing reliance on drugs to treat hyperactive children, said the

wide-ranging powers of the Bill would over-rule the wishes of parents.

" The Bill is so punitive it dispenses with all civil and human

rights. Parents who have reservations about pumping their children

full of drugs to control them would be classed as denying their

children treatment, " he said. " It's only a matter of time before

parents find themselves in breach of such orders which are fully

backed by the courts. "

Dr Johnson, a clinical psychiatrist for 40 years, said the huge rise

in the use of drugs was worrying. The number of prescriptions of the

most popular ADHD drug, Ritalin, stood at 208,000 last year, up from

just 2,000 a decade earlier.

Some parents say they have little choice but to use drugs for their

children. Andrea Bilbow, who runs the Attention Deficit Disorder

Information and Support Service (Addiss), has given her 15-year-old

son Ritalin for nearly a decade. " If there was another way I would

take it, but at the moment it's the only treatment which gives him

any quality of life, " she said.

The Department of Health dismissed claims that new legislation would

lead to parents being jailed, but admitted the proposals would extend

compulsory treatment orders.

Also from the Health section.

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