Drug Implant Symposium

[Guest guest]

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 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

 

 

 

 

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