NHS SPENDS MILLIONS ON DRUG THAT TURNS CHILDREN INTO 'DRONES'

July 4, 2007

NHS SPENDS MILLIONS ON DRUG THAT TURNS CHILDREN INTO 'DRONES'http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/10244/NHS+spends+millions+on+drug+that+turns+children+into+'drones'

Blair: dishing out more unnecessary money?

Sunday June 17,2007

By Lucy Johnston, Health Editor

Have your say(6)

THE NHS is spending more than £1million a month on mind-altering drugs designed to help to calm hyperactive children.

Doctors now write almost 7,500 prescriptions a week for Ritalin tablets, known as “chill pills”.

They cost about £200 a year per child and are likely to cost taxpayers a total of £12.48million this year, figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed.

The revelation comes as new figures show that Ritalin or similar drugs are being linked to at least 11 deaths in Britain.

Last night the UK licensing authority, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), admitted that the deaths were likely to be an underestimate of the true figure because most doctors do not inform them of suspected cases.

Dr Sami Timimi, an expert in child behaviour, said taxpayers’ money is being wasted on Ritalin, which he warned may cause serious long-term damage.

“This is shocking and not a wise way to spend money,” he said. “By using Ritalin, doctors avoid addressing the real issues that are causing a child’s behavioural problems. It is like putting a sticking plaster on a huge wound.

“We could be storing up big problems for this generation of youngsters.”

New figures obtained by this paper also show that doctors have linked other serious side-effects with drugs such as Ritalin. These include 73 blood disorder reactions, 39 heart disorders and 80 stomach disorders.

Ritalin or similar pills are given to children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a condition that affects mainly boys and includes problems focusing, controlling their actions and remaining still or quiet. Doctors wrote 97,224 prescriptions for the controversial drugs in the last three months of last year, at a total cost of £3.12million.

The test for ADHD. Diagnosis is based on monitoring problem behaviour which is severely and persistently inattentive and disorganised, not just naughty or defiant. Andrea Bilbow, from hyperactivity support group ADDISS, said: “Untreated ADHD can lead to psychiatric problems in later life, at enormous cost to the health service. We also know that many of the more severe cases end up in the justice system, again at enormous cost to the state.” Many are sceptical about the success of ADHD drugs and question whether the condition actually exists. Blair Gibbs, spokesman for the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “If parents were allowed to discipline their children, ordinary taxpayers wouldn’t have to fork out so much for expensive drugs that turn kids into drones.” Professor Steve Baldwin, who died in the 2001 Selby rail crash, had concluded from his research that Ritalin was being used as a “quick fix” for children being used as “guinea-pigs”. He believed ADHD as a biological brain disorder did not exist and that symptoms were caused by a number of social and psychological problems that could not be treated with pills. He considered the massive rise in Ritalin prescriptions a “public health scandal”. Next Tuesday in Edinburgh there will be a demonstration against the increasing use of psychiatric drugs for children.Campaigners who will be marching include the Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights.

TELEVISION AND ADHD

24.06.07, 3:31pm

A study published in the journal Pediatrics found that "early exposure to television during critical periods of synaptic development would be associated with subsequent attentional problems" and "early television exposure is associated with attentional problems at age seven" which "are consistent with a diagnosis of ADHD".The reason why tv is now affecting children's brains in ways it didn't before it because of the way in which programmes are produced and edited. Increasing rates of edits increases physiological arousal and attention. As stylistic tricks of cuts, zooms, edits and sudden noises are used more regularly in programming the result is a burgeoniong in so-called disorders of attention. Children's brains are plastic, easily distorted and television watching leads directly to problems of attention and distractibility. Add to this the hours young children spend playing computer games and is anyone surprised at the outcome?

We don't need to look any further than our own living rooms for the causes of ADHD. But then drug companies won't make any money by telling parents to throw out the tv. ref: Pediatrics 1999 'Media Education', 104 p 341-3

• Posted by: TruthOut • Report Comment

IF THEY EVER REBEL

17.06.07, 11:46pm

Aye, dumb them down, drug them up and , if they ever rebel against the spin, the lies and the New World Order medication, bomb the Fascist, terrorist, redneck, insurgent, neo-Nazi, hate-our-freedom, white supremacists to bits.Those that are left, dumb them down, drug them up and, if they ever rebel...iamanenglishman

• Posted by: ironwand • Report Comment

NHS SPENDS MILLIONS ON DRUG THAT TURNS CHILDREN INTO 'DRONES'

17.06.07, 8:45pm

Drones ? Drones ? well Im not surprised one little bit - isnt a tame complicit drone exactly the example of what New Labour want the population to be ?

• Posted by: EmperorMing • Report Comment

NHS SPENDS MILLIONS............

17.06.07, 7:38pm

This is not news. It has been happening for years with the absolute blessing of the parents who can't handle their own difficult children and as the Guardian pointed out a long time ago, the rise of 'Ritalin' went hand in hand with the demise of corporal punishment in schools. It is alright for people to raise their eyebrows at this but the truth is that some of these children are vilely abusive and completely uncontrollable and schools shouldn't be expected to keep control of them. That is unrealistic, so Ritalin it has to be

• Posted by: judy • Report Comment

SODOM AND GOMORRAH

17.06.07, 5:54pm

Society in our world has become very sick ! These children with ADHD are probably very bright underneath all the confusion. They have a conflict going on at both the conscious and sub-conscious levels. Morality in our world has been turned on its head. There is very little compassion and charity left. We as adults have had some time to try and adjust to the huge amount of change wich has taken place in such a short period of time. But children being born today are faced with a barage of contradictions. Morality is turned on its head but expectations are still high to conform to what previous generations were expected to.Give them their PILLS !! But what pills will they be giving to their children ??

• Posted by: VinnyMcken • Report Comment

ADHD COVER UP, THE REAL ROOT PROBLEM IS THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE BRITISH TRADITIONS, FAMILY WAY OF LIFE.

17.06.07, 1:58pm

It is not mind-altering drugs that children need, it is a proper upbringing, being taught real values by their parents, and not having foreign values or religions of any kind taught in schools. I don’t believe that ADHD actually exists; it seems to me it is just a cover up name and that the real root problem is the Disintegration of the British traditions, family way of life.Read my article at http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/275472/disintegration_of_the_traditional_family.htmlIt is well overdue for the British Government to stop pandering to immigrants or asylum seekers and looked after. People entering Britain should abide by the laws of Britain, it will not be long before it will be their laws that are forced onto the British public and I do mean the indigenous population., so I agree with people who say ‘send them back to whence they came’ as they obviously don’t want to live in a free country, and I for one do. Give Britain back to the real British people, and do it now! Before Britain Does End Up with a Civil War! You can read my article on this here http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/282248/could_britain_end_up_with_a_civil_war.htmlIt is not up to education to teach all these different religions or values that are not cultural to Britain and it is wrong. It is little wonder the children of the British public are completely confused by the situation, they go to school and have a load of conflicting rubbish shoved down their throats, then they go home and their parents try to teach them the morels/ethics/values, the real British culture which is theirs by heritage and that they where taught by their parents. Why is the British Government waiting for the ‘River of Blood’ before taking dong the right thing?

• Posted by: tarbra • Report Comment