[DENDRITE] NEWS: Bush Protested in Mad Pride 2004 events in 4 nations in July

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> Thu, 08 Jul 2004 15:43:00 -0700

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> <office

> " News: Your Mind & Freedom " <dendrite

> CC:

> [DENDRITE] NEWS: Bush Protested in Mad

> Pride 2004 events in 4

> nations in July

>

>

> MindFreedom International NEWS RELEASE - 14 July

> 2004

> http://www.Mindfreedomm.org - please forward

>

> MAD PRIDE EVENTS IN 4 NATIONS

>

> BUSH PLANS TO SCREEN ENTIRE USA FOR

> PSYCHIATRIC DRUGGING IS OPPOSED

>

> Each July is MAD PRIDE month to celebrate human

> rights

> and alternatives of psychiatric survivors, which

> means

> everyone.

>

> With President Bush announcing plans to screen the

> entire

> USA population for potential psychiatric drugging,

> this is

> very good timing, indeed. (See news articles and

> links at bottom.)

>

> Mad Pride 2004 events include:

>

> * A 72 hour camp out in front of the State Capitol

> in Albany, New York, USA by people labeled

> " mentally ill. "

>

> * A week of theatrical events in Toronto, Canada by

> Friendly Spike Theater.

>

> * Music events in London.

>

> * Psychiatric survivors laying a wreath on the

> actual Bastille in Paris.

>

> * " Official launch " of a global nonviolent

> revolution,

> complete with ribbon cutting and recreation of the

> Bastille, in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

>

> PROTESTERS SAY: " STOP THE BUSH PUSH TO DRUG

> USA! "

>

> A number of participants are making Bush the object

> of

> their Mad Pride peaceful events this year.

>

> That is because the Bush Administration is promoting

> a plan to screen the entire USA population for

> " mental

> illness, " and pushing psychiatric drugs on those

> labeled.

>

> Two whistleblowers in Philadelphia -- an

> investigator

> and a psychiatrist -- have lost their jobs to blow

> the whistle on drug company corruption in the mental

> health system, and both are suing.

>

> For more information see recent news articles, this

> one from the NEW STANDARD NEWS [links to more news

> articles at bottom].

>

> ~~~~~~

>

> NEW STANDARD NEWS

>

>

http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item & itemid=614

>

> White House May Be Planning Nationwide Program to

> Diagnose, Drug Kids

> by Christopher Getzan

>

> Jun 27 - A new plan by the Bush administration to

> test the nation's public

> school population for mental disorders and treat

> them with controversial

> drugs has raised an alarm among some medical science

> watchdogs and members

> of the mental health community.

>

> The White House is expected to announce a mental

> health and disability

> initiative that recommends the screening and

> treatment of the country¹s K-12

> students. The plan is based on a Texas program a

> government whistleblower

> has called " a Trojan horse " for pharmaceutical

> companies.

>

> As first reported by bmj.com, the website for the

> medical news weekly the

> British Medical Journal, the plan is derived from

> findings by the

> President¹s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health,

> a committee of doctors

> and mental health care professionals established in

> 2002. Published by the

> New Freedom Initiative (NFI), the report recommends

> states start testing for

> and treating mental disorders as early as possible,

> focusing on students,

> who can be easily accessed in the public school

> system.

>

> The mental health component of the plan is based on

> the Texas Medication

> Algorithm Project (TMAP), which was engineered

> during Bush¹s tenure as

> governor. An algorithm is a flow chart that helps

> psychiatrists identify and

> medicate a patient¹s condition.

>

> The New Freedom Initiative reported that " despite

> their prevalence, mental

> disorders often go undiagnosed, " and recommended a

> screening program for

> " consumers of all ages, " including pre-school

> children. The commission found

> that schools are in a " key position " to influence

> the phenomena of young

> children being " expelled from preschools and

> childcare facilities for

> severely disruptive behaviors and emotional

> disorders. " To do so, the NFI

> said that " state-of-the-art treatments " were in

> order, and praised TMAP for

> showing " results in better consumer outcomes. "

>

> The NFI plan " doesn't have the Orwellian goal of

> drugging the populace for a

> political purpose; it's the Orwellian goal of

> drugging the populace for an

> economic purpose. " -- Allen Jones, whistleblower The

> American Psychiatric

> Association, which itself receives some funding from

> drug companies, has

> hailed the commission¹s conclusions as a sound

> preventative approach to

> dealing with mental illness.

>

> Critics of the plan, however, point to strong

> connections between the New

> Freedom Commission on Mental Health and the

> pharmaceutical industry, and

> they contend that the plan will be a financial boon

> to drug companies while

> compromising the mental health of the nation¹s

> children.

>

> Holistic mental health advocate David Oaks, director

> of MindFreedom, a

> coalition of groups that campaigns for people

> diagnosed with psychiatric

> disabilities, says the issues of child mental health

> are not only more

> complicated than just testing for disorders and

> putting kids on drugs, but

> also colored by powerful societal pressures and

> millions of dollars in drug

> revenues. Oaks says the president¹s plan amounts to

> little more than " No

> child left undrugged. "

>

> " It's very unimaginative. The idea sounds good: get

> help for the kids, " Oaks

> said. " But the mental health machine tends to label,

> label, label. " The

> labeling, said Oaks, all too often stigmatizes

> children as " abnormal. "

>

> " We're not happy to say the least, " said Patricia

> Weathers, president of

> Ablechild: Parents for Label and Drug Free

> Education. " It's going to

> increase the drugging of children. "

>

> Oaks says he believes the template for the NFI's

> plan originates in the kind

> of extreme treatments misdiagnosed patients suffered

> in " the back wards " of

> clinics and asylums of the past, like forced

> drugging or electroshock

> therapies.

>

> " This [has] been going on for years, " said Oaks.

> " The psychiatric model [of

> the past] has been mainstreamed. And now, the

> system's coming for all of

> us. "

>

> Labeling, says Weathers, places a great deal of

> stress on families to raise

> a " normal " child. " It's almost like a parent is

> beaten down. You want [your

> child] in a mainstream school, not in a special

> needs school. "

>

> Weathers said her own son was dismissed from the

> public educational system

> because of her refusal to continue to drug him at

> the school system's

> request after school officials diagnosed him as

> having ADHD.

>

> " Parents are losing their children " to drugging and

> labeling regimens, she

> says. " We need to look at the underlying causes, and

> not be so quick to

> think a child has mental problems.

>

> " Instead of saying [a child is] having trouble

> reading, and giving him an

> educational resource, they say, Œoh well, he's

> ADD¹, " she said. In the case

> of her son, Weathers said he had physical

> conditions, among them anemia,

> that may have been hindering his educational

> progress.

>

> Criticism of the NAI plan, or at least the blueprint

> for it, has not been

> limited to the grassroots. In 2002 Allen Jones, a

> former investigator for

> the Office of the Inspector General in Pennsylvania,

> had been looking into

> the propriety of an off-the-books account that

> originated within the

> Pennsylvania Department of Mental Health. According

> to Jones, when he went

> to the New York Times and bmj.com with accusations

> that the drug company

> Janssen may have been attempting to influence the

> formation of a TMAP-style

> test and treat plan, he was told to " quit swimming

> upstream. " When he

> refused to quiet down, he was fired, he added.

>

> In a whistleblower report posted on the Law Project

> for Psychiatric Rights¹

> website, Jones elaborated on his charges, and

> explained that during its

> pilot stage, TMAP was packed with doctors who had

> strong ties to the drug

> industry. Jones said that ties to the drug companies

> gave them a financial

> incentive to recommend expensive, brand name drugs,

> rather than cheaper comparable medicines.

>

> Jones also writes that a number of the New Freedom

> Initiative for Mental

> Health Commission members were linked to TMAP's

> founding or are advocates

> for the program's expansion in states like Maryland

> and Ohio.

>

> The NFI plan, said Jones, " doesn't have the

> Orwellian goal of drugging the

> populace for a political purpose; it's the Orwellian

> goal of drugging the

> populace for an economic purpose. "

>

> Nationally, pharmaceutical companies have been

> generous in doling out

> campaign contributions to the former Texas governor

> and his party. According

> to the Center for Responsive Politics, the

> pharmaceutical industry has given

> President George W. Bush $764,274 so far this

> election cycle, making the

> president the number one recipient of campaign

> donations of either party

> from the pharmaceutical industry.

>

> Number two and three respectively are New Jersey

> Congressman Mike Ferguson

> and North Carolina Senator John Burr, each of whom

> are situated on the

> Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittees on

> Health, which oversees

> mental health and research, biomedical programs,

> Medicaid, and food and drug

> policies. Presumptive Democratic Presidential

> candidate John Kerry has also

> received campaign contributions from the industry,

> with just over $149,000

> in donations.

>

> This mix of money and politics is hardly helpful for

> members of the mental

> health issues community and their advocates, said

> Oaks. Instead, he said,

> " Imagine the whole environmental movement funded by

> the oil industry. "

>

> - end -

>

> ~~~~~~~~~~~

>

> Other news articles on this breaking story:

>

>

>

http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/2004/07-12-2004/insider/education.htm

>

>

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/9095033.htm?1c

>

>

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39078

>

> www.psychrights.org/

>

> [Above, see a legal brief filed by whistleblower

> Allen Jones.]

>

>

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/329/7457/69

>

> Also see http://bmj.bmjjournals.com late today, 8

> July 2004,

> for news about the latest whistleblower to speak

> out,

> a psychiatrist in Pennsylvania who has lost his job

> and is suing,

> because of harm done by children by drug company

> corruption.

>

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~

>

> ACT NOW:

>

> Ask your elected leaders to hold an investigation of

> psychiatric drug company corruption and domination

> in

> government agencies.

>

> Also, what about you and your family?

>

> What will you do if and when you are screened?

>

> If Bush plans to screen the entire population for

> mental health

> problems.... Don't you think it's about time you

> joined

> MindFreedom International? We unite 100 grassroots

> groups

> to defend human rights of people in the mental

> health system.

>

> Join MindFreedom now! All are invited!

>

> MindFreedom is totally independent, and not

> connected to any

> government, mental health provider, church or drug

> company.

>

> The majority of MindFreedom members have personally

> experienced

> coerced psychiatric procedures, and are ready,

> willing and

> able to resist mental health system human rights

> violations.

>

> For more info about MindFreedom go to:

>

> http://www.MindFreedom.org.

>

> To join now go to:

>

> http://mindfreedom.org/join.shtml

>

> MAD PRIDE!

>

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~

>

> Please forward this news!

>

>

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>