last chance: Bill Protects US Kids From Psychiatric Drugs!

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Wed, 6 Dec 2006 10:58:24 -0800

mindfreedom-news

last chance: Bill Protects US Kids From Psychiatric Drugs!

 

 

 

 

MindFreedom News - 6 December 2006

http://www.mindfreedom.org - please forward

 

Next 3 days -- URGENT:

 

To all USA citizens -- left or right, red or blue!

 

Help last minute push for bill to protect

US kids from psychiatric drug abuse!

 

What bill unites Americans of *all* political stripes -- red and blue

-- from NAACP to Eagle Forum?

 

It is a simple, commonsense bill to protect USA families from

pressure by schools to put their kids on psychiatric drugs.

 

The next three days (12/6 to 12/8) is your last chance in 2006 to get

this bill through the US Senate.

 

The Child Medication Safety Act was first introduced in Congress in

2003. It passed the House overwhelmingly but was killed in the

Senate. Essentially the same bill was re-introduced in the House in

2005. HR 1790 again passed the House overwhelmingly -- 407 to 12 --

and now is awaiting action by the Senate.

 

The Child Medication Safety Act (CMSA) would prohibit schools from

requiring parents to put their children on powerful psychotropic

medications as a condition of keeping them in school.

 

It's the end of the legislative cycle on this year's bill, and that's

where you come in!

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

ACTION ACTION ACTION

 

1) Please phone the office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist at

1-202-224-3344 and ask him:

 

" Please put the Child Medication Safety Act (HR 1790) on the

unanimous consent calendar -- the list of non-controversial bills --

and pass it this week. "

 

[Note: The office is busy, it may take several rings for the phone to

be answered, don't give up.]

 

2) Ask others to do the same! Forward this alert with personal words

of encouragement! Let's get lots of citizens to inundate Sen. Frist's

office with civil, polite, but firm requests!

 

3) Also, please contact your two US Senators and ask them to support

this bill. Plus, it is time for everyone who cares about the problem

of kids and psychiatric drugs to know their Senators' staff who work

on health issues both at home and in D.C.! We may need to try again

in 2007.

 

To easily find your two Senators' full contact information (phone,

Internet, etc.) you may use the pull down menu in the upper right

hand corner of the Senate web site here:

 

http://www.senate.gov/

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

MORE INFO about MindFreedom USA Campaign:

 

http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/usa

 

MindFreedom is holding a multi-group emergency teleconference on

campaign to protect USA children from psychiatric drug abuse on

Thursday, 12/7.

 

MORE INFO about bill H.R.1790:

 

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HR01790:

 

MORE INFO on related bill S.4041:

 

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:SN04041:

 

ALSO, below is a more detailed alert from one of the key heroines who

has championed this bill:

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

URGE THE SENATE TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM FORCED DRUGGING!

 

by Karen R. Effrem -- kreffrem(at)pro-ns(dot)net

 

The lame duck Congress has decided not to deal with the federal

budget bills including the mental health screening issues. They plan

instead to do a " continuing resolution " which will fund these

programs at their current levels until February when the Democrats

will then have to deal with the budget.

 

Since they do not have to pass the individual spending bills, they

can work on other things.

 

Of the bills they could pass in their last week, one that should be a

" no-brainer " is the Child Medication Safety Act (HR 1790). The bill

was passed for the second Congress in a row by the US House by the

overwhelming majority of 407-12 in November of 2005. Senator James

Inhofe (R-OK) introduced this common sense bill in September of 2006

right before the election.

 

This legislation protects families from being coerced into

administering psychotropic medications that are on the controlled

substances list to their children in order to attend school. These

are the Ritalin class of drugs used to treat ADHD, the most common

psychiatric label given to children. It is identical to the

legislation that passed in 2004 to protect students in special

education from this same kind of forced drugging. The bill that would

have protected all K to 12 students died in the last session of

Congress due to a blockade by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) at the

behest of pharmaceutical and psychiatric groups.

 

This bill is supported by a broad spectrum of groups. The NAACP

promoted this bill as part of its legislative priorities list for the

Congress about to end. A variety of consumer, professional and

grassroots political groups all support this bill.

 

Pediatrician Dr. Karen Effrem has presented testimony to Congress on

this bill. She found that the medical literature demonstrates that

these medications are overused, ineffective, and have dangerous, if

not fatal, side effects. Most importantly, she reported that the

" disorders " these drugs are supposed to treat are admitted by experts

to have no scientific basis -- that there are many other reasons for

behavior and learning disorders that do not require medication.

Children have died from the dangers of these drugs forced on them by

the schools.

 

Since that testimony was presented, study after study has appeared

continuing to show the dangers and lack of effectiveness of these

medications. For instance, all in 2006:

 

The Oregon Drug Effectiveness Review Project, analyzed 2287 pieces of

research -- virtually every investigation ever done on ADHD drugs up

to 2006 - to reach its conclusions: it found no evidence to support

the claims about these drugs' safety, effectiveness, or the

legitimacy of the ADHD diagnosis.

 

The FDA strengthened its warnings on these drugs, finally

acknowledging that these drugs cause dependency and addiction,

hallucinations, psychosis, and heart problems, including sudden death.

 

A study of ADHD drugs in preschoolers released by the National

Institutes of Mental Health revealed that, " About 40 percent of

children developed side effects and roughly 11 percent dropped out

because of problems including irritability, weight loss, insomnia and

slowed growth. "

 

** ACTION **

 

Please call Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist at 1-202-224-3344 and

ask him to put the Child Medication Safety Act (HR 1790) on the

unanimous consent calendar (the list of non-controversial bills) and

pass it this week. [it may take several rings for the phone to be

answered.]

 

Please call your two US Senators and ask them to support this bill

and urge the same with Senator Frist.

 

To easily find your two Senators' contact information you may use the

pull down menu in the upper right hand corner of the Senate web site

here:

 

http://www.senate.gov/

 

This bill is supported by groups on all points on the political

spectrum, from the NAACP to Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum.

 

With all of the new research on the dangers of the Ritalin class of

drugs and given that there is ongoing funding for mental health

screening of all ages of children, the basic protections for K to 12

students in this bill that have already passed in the special

education law should be passed without a moment's hesitation.

 

Ask these elected officials whose interests they will support – those

of parents and children, including minority children, or those of the

psychopharmaceutical and education cartel.

 

- end of Karen R. Effrem alert -

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

For more info on MindFreedom see the newly redesigned web site at

http://www.MindFreedom.org

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Do you want to...

 

* Win human rights campaigns in mental health?

 

* End abuse by the psychiatric drug industry?

 

* Support self-determination of psychiatric survivors?

 

* Promote safe, humane, effective options in mental health?

 

You are not alone! MindFreedom is a nonprofit human rights group that

unites 100 sponsor and affiliate groups with individual members, and

is accredited by the United Nations as a Non-Governmental

Organization (NGO) with Consultative Roster Status.

 

MindFreedom is one of the very few totally independent groups in the

mental health field with no funding from governments, drug companies,

religions, corporations, or the mental health system. While most of

MindFreedom's members are psychiatric survivors, *all* who support

human rights are invited to join and become active leaders.

 

http://www.mindfreedom.org

 

MindFreedom International Office: 454 Willamette, Suite 216 - POB

11284; Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA

 

web site: http://www.mindfreedom.org

e-mail: office(at)mindfreedom(dot)org

office phone: (541) 345-9106

toll free: 1-877-MAD-PRIDe or 1-877-623-7743

fax: (541) 345-3737

 

Please forward.

 

" Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted. " -

Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

 

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