Psycho Feds Target Children

[Guest guest]

" Demand that the Department of Health and Human Services receive no tax dollars

in this year’s appropriation bill for screening programs, and that states

receive no federal dollars for programs of their own. Refer to my congressional

website for articles from September 2004 about mental health screening, and

sobering statistics about anti-depressant drugs and kids in the text of HR 181.

Most of all, talk with your friends, family, and colleagues about the underlying

issue of whether the state owns your kids. Remind them that freedom can be

maintained only when state power is limited, especially when it comes to

fundamental freedoms over our bodies and minds. " Dr. Ron

Paul

 

Psycho Feds Target Children

 

by Rep. Ron Paul, MD

 

Every parent in America should be made aware of a presidential initiative called

the “New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.” This commission issued a report

last year calling for the mandatory mental health screening of American

schoolchildren, meaning millions of kids will be forced to undergo psychiatric

screening whether their parents consent or not. At issue is the fundamental

right of parents to decide what medical treatment is appropriate for their

children.

 

Forced mental health screening simply has no place in a free or decent society.

The government does not own you or your kids, and it has no legitimate authority

to interfere in your family’s intimate health matters. Psychiatric diagnoses are

inherently subjective, and the drugs regularly prescribed produce serious side

effects, especially in children’s developing brains. The bottom line is that

mental health issues are a matter for parents, children, and their doctors, not

government.

 

Unfortunately, however, the mental health screening initiative received funding

from House and Senate appropriators in the 2005 federal budget. This funding

allows states to create or expand mental health screening programs with your tax

dollars. More importantly, the commission recommends a broader federal program

in the near future.

 

Last fall I introduced an amendment to eliminate any funding for the proposal in

a year-end spending bill. Although the amendment failed, the response to my

office was overwhelming and highly supportive. The notion of federal bureaucrats

ordering potentially millions of youngsters to take psychotropic drugs like

Ritalin strikes an emotional chord with American parents, who are sick of

relinquishing more and more parental control to government.

 

Accordingly, the first bill I introduced this year forbids federal funds from

being used for any mental-health screening of students without the express,

written, voluntary, informed consent of their parents. The bill is known as “The

Parental Consent Act of 2005,” or HR 181. This legislation strikes a vital blow

for parents who oppose government interference with their parental authority,

and strengthens the fundamental right of parents to direct and control the

upbringing and education of their children.

 

It is important to understand that powerful interests, namely federal

bureaucrats and pharmaceutical lobbies, are behind the push for mental health

screening in schools. There is no end to the bureaucratic appetite to run our

lives, and the pharmaceutical industry is eager to sell psychotropic drugs to

millions of new customers in American schools. Only tremendous public opposition

will suffice to overcome the lobbying and bureaucratic power behind the

president’s New Freedom Commission.

 

Your help is needed. Please tell everyone you know about HR 181, and ask them to

call their representatives and senators in Washington to voice strong opposition

to forced mental health screening. Demand that the Department of Health and

Human Services receive no tax dollars in this year’s appropriation bill for

screening programs, and that states receive no federal dollars for programs of

their own. Refer to my congressional website for articles from September 2004

about mental health screening, and sobering statistics about anti-depressant

drugs and kids in the text of HR 181. Most of all, talk with your friends,

family, and colleagues about the underlying issue of whether the state owns your

kids. Remind them that freedom can be maintained only when state power is

limited, especially when it comes to fundamental freedoms over our bodies and

minds.

 

February 1, 2005

 

Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas

 

 

 

 

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