Guest guest Posted October 22, 2003 Report Share Posted October 22, 2003 http://www.mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/implant_4.shtml Planting Myself At the Drug Implant Symposium by Pat Deegan PHILADELPHIA: I heard about the symposium on Haldol psychiatric drug implants to be held on September 25, 2003 at the University of Pennsylvania and I felt I had to be there. I had to be there because I remember the horror of my own experience with Haldol. I remember how dead I felt on that drug. I remember the stiffness, the exhaustion, and how it shut down my ability to think or feel. It was almost impossible for me to believe that researchers were close to perfecting Haldol implants that could be surgically stitched into a human body to deliver this chemical hell for months at a time. I had to see it for myself. Approximately 70 people showed up at the lecture hall. Security guards were stationed outside near the doors. There were consumer/survivors in the audience as well as some mental health professionals from community-based programs, students from various disciplines such as nursing and social work, and some family members. The 3-hour symposium was called: " The Ethical Considerations in the Use of Surgically Implantable Long-Term Drug Delivery systems in Psychiatry. " It was hosted by the Stanley Center for Experimental Therapeutics in Psychiatry and the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. During the first hour we were welcomed by Arthur Rubenstein, Dean of the Medical School at U of Penn. We then heard a 20-minute lecture by Steven Siegel MD, PhD. He is the psychiatrist who is paid via grants from the Stanley Foundation and who is developing the psychiatric drug implants. Siegel was followed by Paul Root Wolpe, a bioethicist who works in the same department of psychiatry that Dr. Siegel works in. Finally, Paul Andreason, MD spoke. He is the Team Leader for Psychopharmacology for the Federal Food and Drug Administration. Here are some of the main things I learned from the opening lectures: The Haldol implants have been tried on rats, rabbits and monkeys. Clinical trials on humans may occur in as little as two years. Some of the monkeys tear out the implants. GO MONKEYS! Haldol implants are just the beginning. Eventually Dr. Siegel and the Stanley Foundation hope to make all sorts of psychiatric drugs available as implants. They feel it will help to increase compliance and save people from what they call " the ravages of schizophrenia. " The Haldol implants are about the size of a quarter. According to Dr. Siegel it will take four implants to dose an " average sized person " for a year. The four implants would be placed under the skin during a surgical procedure performed in an outpatient setting with local anesthesia. The implants are biodegradable and would dissolve over the course of a year. Dr. Siegel promised the implants would only be used voluntarily and with consent. Many in the audience, including myself, doubt this. He also promised the implants could empower us and relieve us of the burden of having to remember to take so many pills for the rest of our lives. All of the featured speakers except the official from the FDA mentioned that the development of this new drug-delivery technology had the potential for abuse. Dr. Siegel openly discussed his vision of how these drugs could benefit people in " developing countries " . He sees the implants going world-wide. The implants will not be considered a new drug. The implants will be viewed as a new drug-delivery technology. This is an important distinction because it means the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold the new technology to different standards than it does a new drug. A panel had the opportunity to speak for 5 minutes each following the opening lectures. The panel included two consumer/survivors and MindFreedom members, Mark Davis and Joseph A. Rogers. Mark Davis is Founding President and Board member of the Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumers Association. Joseph Rogers is President and CEO of the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania. Both of these consumer/survivors spoke eloquently and passionately of their concerns about the drug implants and the potential for even more coercion and force through the use of this invasive technology. Carol Caruso, President of the State Board of the Pennsylvania Alliance for the Mentally Ill also spoke of her reservations about the implants. She hoped that people would not be taken off of drugs that were working in order to be put on Haldol implants. She said NAMI did not have an official position on psychiatric drug implants at this time. Unfortunately the representative from the American Civil Liberties Association (ACLU) did not show up due to a last minute court date. The ACLU perspective was sorely missed at this event. Jonathan Stanley was also on the panel. He is the Assistant Director of the Treatment Advocacy Center that lobbies for an increase in forced psychiatric drugging. He is also the son of the millionaire who funds the research organization that is developing the drug implants. Jonathan has been diagnosed and treated for " bi-polar disorder. " He said that he, personally, would not use a psychiatric drug implant at this time in his life. The last and perhaps most exciting part of the symposium was the final hour in which the audience had a chance to ask questions and make comments. Some of the issues raised included: Fear of managed care companies grabbing on to the drug implants and using them as the only treatment option for " non-compliant " people. Concern that the Stanley Foundation was funding the drug implant research. This indicates a pairing of a political lobbying organization committed to an increase in forced treatment and outpatient commitment, with the new drug implant technology. Concern that people will be implanted a year at a time and have no other contact with their psychiatrists. Concern that the drug implants will be used for more and more people including those in prisons, nursing homes, groups homes, kids, etc. Concern that drug implants were unethical because they are so invasive and there are proven, less invasive methods for helping people who are hesitant, unwilling or undecided about taking psychiatric drugs. Perhaps my favorite comment came from a man who said he had been through hell when he was homeless and forcibly drugged with Haldol Decanoate. He challenged Dr. Siegel to surgically implant himself with Haldol for a year. Dr. Siegel smiled but did not reply. As for me, I walked away from the symposium with a heavy but determined heart. These guys really think they are doing the right thing. Just like the inventors of electroshock (ECT), insulin coma shock and metrozol shock thought they were doing the right thing. Just like the butchers of psychosurgery thought they were doing the right thing. Just like Dr. Cotton and his surgical removal of bodily organs to cure mental illness thought he was doing the right thing. Just like Dr. Bender thought she was doing the right thing when administering LSD and ECT to children. So, too, do Mr. Stanley and Dr. Siegel think they are doing the right thing by developing psychiatric drug implants. They have money. They have power. They have privilege and position. We have truth. We have a voice. We have justice. We have each other and our movement. We won't be implanted. Here's what we can do: The implant developers are vulnerable right now. A swell of public opinion against the development of this technology could dramatically slow or even halt it Call a summit meeting of consumer/survivor leaders to plan a coherent strategy to end the development of psychiatric drug implants Call for congressional hearings on the topic Get legal input from the Bazelon Center and ACLU Explore ways to delay and stop the human clinical trials from happening Educate ourselves about the FDA regulations regarding new drug delivery systems Lobby national groups to write position papers against psychiatric drug implants Conduct workshops on the topic of drug implants to raise awareness Form coalitions with other groups who will be oppressed by the new implant technology including other disability groups, children's advocates, prisoners, elderly advocates, women's organizations and poor people. Complete Dr. Siegel's 10-minute survey about consumer opinion on drug implants. Right now he is claiming that 42% of consumers would positively consider being implanted with Haldol. You can help change that statistic by filling out the survey at: http://www.stanley.med. upenn.edu/Surveys.html You can e-mail Patricia Deegan, Ph.D. at patricia.deegan NEW WEB MESSAGE BOARDS - JOIN HERE. Alternative Medicine Message Boards.Info http://alternative-medicine-message-boards.info The New with improved product search Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 Dear Ilene, Please repost anything that you want to from this list to any group that you think will be interested. The majority of the posts are not mine. I do not sit up writing this stuff. I just repost from articles on the web and from other groups etc. I hope everyone in the group reposts things here that they run across in other groups or on the web and I hope they all repost the messages here to other groups too. If we are to receive true information it is up to all of us to see that it gets around to others and that they reciprocate information back to us. This type of information is usually lost due to it being under reported, not reported, or reported with spin to make it seem different than it really is in the major media. If we are to be informed it will have to be up to us and finding it on the internet. If you are interested in psychotropic drugs there is a lot of information in our archives (16,000 messages/articles). Also our links page has many links to sites which has a lot of information and then there is our new web based message boards which has some information in our alternative mental health section. regards, Frank , " I. Crawford " <willow.myst@v...> wrote: > Frank, > > May I have your permission to cross post this post to a Bipolar Support Group I am on? > > Ilene Crawford > - > Frank > alternative_medicine_forum > Wednesday, October 22, 2003 10:51 PM > Drug Implant Symposium > > > http://www.mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/implant_4.shtml > > > Planting Myself At the Drug Implant Symposium > by Pat Deegan > PHILADELPHIA: I heard about the symposium on Haldol psychiatric drug implants to be held on September 25, 2003 at the University of Pennsylvania and I felt I had to be there. I had to be there because I remember the horror of my own experience with Haldol. > I remember how dead I felt on that drug. I remember the stiffness, the exhaustion, and how it shut down my ability to think or feel. It was almost impossible for me to believe that researchers were close to perfecting Haldol implants that could be surgically stitched into a human body to deliver this chemical hell for months at a time. I had to see it for myself. > Approximately 70 people showed up at the lecture hall. Security guards were stationed outside near the doors. There were consumer/survivors in the audience as well as some mental health professionals from community-based programs, students from various disciplines such as nursing and social work, and some family members. > The 3-hour symposium was called: " The Ethical Considerations in the Use of Surgically Implantable Long-Term Drug Delivery systems in Psychiatry. " It was hosted by the Stanley Center for Experimental Therapeutics in Psychiatry and the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. > During the first hour we were welcomed by Arthur Rubenstein, Dean of the Medical School at U of Penn. We then heard a 20-minute lecture by Steven Siegel MD, PhD. He is the psychiatrist who is paid via grants from the Stanley Foundation and who is developing the psychiatric drug implants. > Siegel was followed by Paul Root Wolpe, a bioethicist who works in the same department of psychiatry that Dr. Siegel works in. > Finally, Paul Andreason, MD spoke. He is the Team Leader for Psychopharmacology for the Federal Food and Drug Administration. > Here are some of the main things I learned from the opening lectures: > > The Haldol implants have been tried on rats, rabbits and monkeys. Clinical trials on humans may occur in as little as two years. > > > Some of the monkeys tear out the implants. GO MONKEYS! > > > Haldol implants are just the beginning. Eventually Dr. Siegel and the Stanley Foundation hope to make all sorts of psychiatric drugs available as implants. They feel it will help to increase compliance and save people from what they call " the ravages of schizophrenia. " > > > The Haldol implants are about the size of a quarter. According to Dr. Siegel it will take four implants to dose an " average sized person " for a year. The four implants would be placed under the skin during a surgical procedure performed in an outpatient setting with local anesthesia. The implants are biodegradable and would dissolve over the course of a year. > > > Dr. Siegel promised the implants would only be used voluntarily and with consent. Many in the audience, including myself, doubt this. He also promised the implants could empower us and relieve us of the burden of having to remember to take so many pills for the rest of our lives. > > > All of the featured speakers except the official from the FDA mentioned that the development of this new drug-delivery technology had the potential for abuse. > > > Dr. Siegel openly discussed his vision of how these drugs could benefit people in " developing countries " . He sees the implants going world-wide. > > > The implants will not be considered a new drug. The implants will be viewed as a new drug-delivery technology. This is an important distinction because it means the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold the new technology to different standards than it does a new drug. > > A panel had the opportunity to speak for 5 minutes each following the opening lectures. The panel included two consumer/survivors and MindFreedom members, Mark Davis and Joseph A. Rogers. Mark Davis is Founding President and Board member of the Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumers Association. Joseph Rogers is President and CEO of the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania. > Both of these consumer/survivors spoke eloquently and passionately of their concerns about the drug implants and the potential for even more coercion and force through the use of this invasive technology. > Carol Caruso, President of the State Board of the Pennsylvania Alliance for the Mentally Ill also spoke of her reservations about the implants. She hoped that people would not be taken off of drugs that were working in order to be put on Haldol implants. She said NAMI did not have an official position on psychiatric drug implants at this time. > Unfortunately the representative from the American Civil Liberties Association (ACLU) did not show up due to a last minute court date. The ACLU perspective was sorely missed at this event. > Jonathan Stanley was also on the panel. He is the Assistant of the Treatment Advocacy Center that lobbies for an increase in forced psychiatric drugging. He is also the son of the millionaire who funds the research organization that is developing the drug implants. Jonathan has been diagnosed and treated for " bi- polar disorder. " He said that he, personally, would not use a psychiatric drug implant at this time in his life. > The last and perhaps most exciting part of the symposium was the final hour in which the audience had a chance to ask questions and make comments. Some of the issues raised included: > > Fear of managed care companies grabbing on to the drug implants and using them as the only treatment option for " non-compliant " people. > > > Concern that the Stanley Foundation was funding the drug implant research. This indicates a pairing of a political lobbying organization committed to an increase in forced treatment and outpatient commitment, with the new drug implant technology. > > > Concern that people will be implanted a year at a time and have no other contact with their psychiatrists. > > > Concern that the drug implants will be used for more and more people including those in prisons, nursing homes, groups homes, kids, etc. > > > Concern that drug implants were unethical because they are so invasive and there are proven, less invasive methods for helping people who are hesitant, unwilling or undecided about taking psychiatric drugs. > > Perhaps my favorite comment came from a man who said he had been through hell when he was homeless and forcibly drugged with Haldol Decanoate. He challenged Dr. Siegel to surgically implant himself with Haldol for a year. Dr. Siegel smiled but did not reply. > As for me, I walked away from the symposium with a heavy but determined heart. These guys really think they are doing the right thing. Just like the inventors of electroshock (ECT), insulin coma shock and metrozol shock thought they were doing the right thing. Just like the butchers of psychosurgery thought they were doing the right thing. Just like Dr. Cotton and his surgical removal of bodily organs to cure mental illness thought he was doing the right thing. Just like Dr. Bender thought she was doing the right thing when administering LSD and ECT to children. So, too, do Mr. Stanley and Dr. Siegel think they are doing the right thing by developing psychiatric drug implants. > They have money. They have power. They have privilege and position. > We have truth. We have a voice. We have justice. We have each other and our movement. We won't be implanted. > Here's what we can do: > > The implant developers are vulnerable right now. A swell of public opinion against the development of this technology could dramatically slow or even halt it > > > Call a summit meeting of consumer/survivor leaders to plan a coherent strategy to end the development of psychiatric drug implants > > > Call for congressional hearings on the topic > > > Get legal input from the Bazelon Center and ACLU > > > Explore ways to delay and stop the human clinical trials from happening > > > Educate ourselves about the FDA regulations regarding new drug delivery systems > > > Lobby national groups to write position papers against psychiatric drug implants > > > Conduct workshops on the topic of drug implants to raise awareness > > > Form coalitions with other groups who will be oppressed by the new implant technology including other disability groups, children's advocates, prisoners, elderly advocates, women's organizations and poor people. > > > Complete Dr. Siegel's 10-minute survey about consumer opinion on drug implants. Right now he is claiming that 42% of consumers would positively consider being implanted with Haldol. You can help change that statistic by filling out the survey at: > http://www.stanley.med. upenn.edu/Surveys.html > > > You can e-mail Patricia Deegan, Ph.D. at patricia.deegan@c... > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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