HR 1790: House Passes Bill Protecting Children From Forced Psychiatric Medication
November 2005: The US House of Representatives recently passed the Child Medication Safety Act (HR 1790) by an overwhelmingly wide margin of 407 against 12 votes. The law, which still needs to be introduced in the Senate and be approved there, would protect children from being forced to take mind altering drugs as a pre-condition for attending school, without the consent of their parents.
A similar bill was already passed in 2004 but it did not take the required second hurdle -Senate approval.
Vera Hassner Sharav of the ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP) www.ahrp.org comments:
Some good news: The House passed the Child Medication Safety Act (HR 1790) sponsored by Congressman John Kline of Minnesota. The purpose of this Act is to restore parental authority over decisions about their children's health care: "to protect children and their parents from being coerced into administering a controlled substance or a psychotropic drug in order to attend school." The ACT passed by 407 to 12 votes.Dr. Karen Effrem, board member of AHRP, EdWatch and ICSPP, the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, led the charge by educating legislators about the harm being done to children who are misdiagnosed as mentally ill, then coerced into taking dangerous mind-altering controlled substances over their parents' objections. Dr. Effrem testified before Congress about this issue...
- - -EDUCATION FOR A FREE NATION
105 Peavey Rd, Suite 116, Chaska, MN 55318
952-361-4931 - www.edwatch.org
edwatch@lakes.comHouse Passes Child Medication Safety Act
Vote is 407 to 12 in important step toward protecting childrenNovember 18, 2005
On Wednesday, November 16th, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the Child Medication Safety Act (CMSA) sponsored by Cong. John Kline of Minnesota. We commend and thank Mr. Kline and the US House for this strong effort to protect children and parental rights. The bill must still be introduced and passed in the Senate. Currently, there is no Senate author.
The vote on H.R. 1790, "to protect children and their parents from being coerced into administering a controlled substance or a psychotropic drug in order to attend school," was 407 to 12 on a Roll call vote. Minnesota's entire delegation voted yes. Please call your members to thank them for their support for children and families.
The bi-partisan vote for CMSA demonstrates that its provisions enjoy broad public support. All 25 co-sponsors, however, were Republican, with the noteworthy exception of Collin Peterson of Minnesota. Minnesota's Peterson, Mark Kennedy and Gil Gutknecht all joined Mr. Kline as co-sponsors. The absence of more Democratic co-sponsors is disappointing on an issue that should be aggressively promoted by all elected officials. The powerful pharmaceutical lobby is now the chief obstacle to final Congressional passage, and bi-partisan support will be required to stir action in the Senate.
In a November 15th floor speech, Cong. Kline noted the potential for "serious harm and abuse" in the use of psychotropic drugs on children. "In some instances," he stated, "school personnel freely offer diagnoses for ADD and ADHD disorders and urge parents to obtain drug treatment for their child. Sometimes, officials even attempt to force parents into choosing between medicating their child and allowing that child to remain in the classroom. This is unconscionable. Parents should never be forced to medicate their child against their will and better judgment in order to ensure their child will receive educational services."
EdWatch's Dr. Karen Effrem has presented testimony to Congress on this issue and has led the charge to put this protection into law. One example of the need to prohibit coercion to medicate is demonstrated in the article -- Medicating Aliah.
ALIAH GLEASON IS A BIG, lively girl with a round face, a quick wit, and a sharp tongue. She's 13 and in eighth grade at Dessau Middle School in Pflugerville, Texas, an Austin suburb, but could pass for several years older. She is the second of four daughters of Calvin and Anaka Gleason, an African American couple who run a struggling business taking people on casino bus trips ... Aliah was a B and C student who "got in trouble for
running my mouth."First diagnosed by school personnel as having "oppositional disorder", Aliah was later screened for mental illness and taken to the Austin State Hospital, a state mental facility, against her parents wishes. She was denied family contact for five months and forcibly medicated with 12 different powerful and toxic psychotropic medications. "What, if anything, was wrong with Aliah remains cloudy." The entire story is on-line. Children have died from the toxic effects of psychotropic medications on which their parents were forced by the schools to put them.
EdWatch is especially focused on the CMSA, because state and federal policies are rapidly establishing comprehensive state mental health systems that would require universal mental health screening of all children. These are funded by Congress and administered by the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and by the Administration for Children & Families (ACF). The result of massive mental health screening will inevitably be massive drugging. The pharmaceutical lobby also drives universal screening policies. The Parental Consent Act of 2005 to prohibit federal money for universal screening programs still awaits Congressional action.
In addition, this month's Ninth Circuit Appeals Court's now infamous Palmdale decision against parental authority, besides establishing the school as arbiter of sex education and supporting a school's right to ask nosy questions that were part of a mental health study, was actually upholding the schools' right to "protect the mental health of children." Legislation like the CMSA is absolutely vital to protect and reassert parental rights to direct the education and health care of their children.
Rep. Hinojosa, D-TX, said, "the decision to medicate a child to treat mental health problems ... belongs solely to the parents."
Chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, Rep. Boehner, R-OH, pointed out that in Congressional hearings, he has learned of "the number of complaints from parents, grandparents and others where their children were going to be denied admission to school or denied services unless their child was put on medication." He further said:
"Last year when we reauthorized IDEA, the special ed law, we put identical language in that law to protect the parents of special needs children. What this does is it covers the rest of the children. I think it is a great step in the right direction, and I urge my colleagues to support it."Rep. Murphy, R-PA, stated that he is "concerned about some schools coercing parents to medicate their children without medical justification - exactly what this legislation aims to prevent. When I saw child patients as a psychologist," Mr. Murphy said, "I was once strongly pressured by a school administrator to recommend medication for students. That sort of pressure is unethical, not to mention potentially leading to harm for children." In other words, we know that coercion to drug students is a reality in our nation.
In the last Congress the CMSA passed the House 425 to 1 Yet in 2004 it died in the Senate for lack of committee action, thanks to the active blockade by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA). Kennedy admitted those efforts in a July 2, 2004 Boston Globe story: "Kennedy's office said that it is important to separate the roles of schools and doctors but that any legislation limiting schools' ability to push for treatment of children with mental-health issues should wait until further study of the benefits and detriments of psychiatric drugs." That story also noted that Kennedy had received $171,601 in campaign contributions from health professionals and $97,050 from the pharmaceutical and health-product industry.
Since that statement by Kennedy's office, a flurry of revelations have been published. They document pharmaceutical industry cover-ups of unflattering clinical trial data and scientific data that show lack of safety and effectiveness of any of the psychiatric drugs in children. Given that information, opposition to the CMSA by the Senate would now be absurd.
Congressman Mark Kennedy, R-MN, stated, "As a father of four, I understand how important it is to protect parental rights. Parents are the ones who should be deciding what is best for their children's health and education." Yet, twelve House members actually voted no this week -- 11 Democrats and one Republican. It's hard to imagine what their excuse might be!
Will this urgent protection for our children and our rights as parents die again in the 109th Congress? Will Senators step forward to sponsor this common-sense, necessary protection for our children and see to it that the CMSA receives an up or down vote in committee and on the Senate floor? Or will the pharmaceutical lobby once again have their way as they did in the last Congress?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
House bill prohibits enforced student medications
Aaron Blake, Star Tribune
November 17, 2005WASHINGTON - The House on Wednesday passed a bill, introduced by Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., that would prohibit schools from requiring students to take medication in order to remain in the classroom. Under the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, schools may not force medication -- specifically, controlled substances such as Ritalin and Adderall for attention deficit disorders -- on special education students.
Kline's bill would extend that protection to all students. States that do not develop anti-coercion strategies would be cut off from federal funding. On the floor Tuesday, Kline called coercion in the classroom "a growing problem."
"This is unconscionable," he said. "Parents should never be forced to medicate their child against their will and better judgment in order to ensure their child will receive educational services."
The bill passed 407-12; the eight members of the Minnesota delegation supported it.
Republican Reps. Gil Gutknecht and Mark Kennedy and Democrat Collin Peterson were co-sponsors.
Some psychiatric groups had urged that the bill be withdrawn because they aren't convinced such a problem even exists.
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry is one of four that sent a letter to Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, calling the legislation "premature" and urging an examination of the alleged coercion before any laws are passed. "We just want to know if there is an issue with this," said Kristin Kroeger Ptakowski, deputy executive director and director of government affairs and clinical practice at the academy.
No similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate.
Aaron Blake is a correspondent in the Star Tribune Washington Bureau.
- - -
A comment by the
ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP)
Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and Accountability
www.ahrp.org
The good news is that the House of Representatives has passed a measure--407-12--to stop forced psychotropic drugs on school children.The bill is called the Child Medication Safety Act of 2005 (HR 1790).
The American Psychiatric Association is leading the charge of lobbyists opposed to this basic safeguard for American children who have increasingly come under pressure to ingest psychotropic drugs that are primarily used to control misbehavior rather than to treat any verifyable psychological disorder that would warrant the use of drugs.
The APA is also on record in its opposition to the FDA required Black Box warning labels on  antidepressants.
The APA opposes the warnings disclosing that the drugs trigger a twofold increased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in children because the warnings have resulted in a 20% decrease in antidepressant prescriptions. In other words, the APA puts commercial interest ahead of safety.
Similarly, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry also opposes parental discretion in deciding whether to consent to children's being prescribed mind altering drugs.
The APA and the AACAP have significant on-going financail ties to drug manufacturers--their position is, therefore, colored by their financial interest.
However, AHRP and a coalition of concerned citizens asks you to help us to ensure that this year the APA will not succeed as it did last year when the House passed an identical bill last year 425-1. APA has worked hard to make sure no companion measure is introduced in the Senate. "So far those efforts have paid off, but with solid support among the House Republican leadership it remains possible that the legislation will advance as an amendment to a larger bill."
Stay tuned!
Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav
212-595-8974
veracare@ahrp.org
Psychiatric News December 16, 2005
Volume 40, Number 24, page 10
© 2005Government News
APA Says Bill Biased Against MH Treatment
Rich DalyThe House again approves a bill with blanket prohibitions on mandatory psychotropic use by schools that APA says could interfere with physician treatment.
The House of Representatives passed a measure last month, opposed by APA, that is intended to discourage schools from any mandate that students take psychotropic drugs as a condition for attending class.
The bill, named the Child Medication Safety Act of 2005 (HR 1790), mandates that states prohibit schools from requiring that students take any drug to alter "perception, emotion, or behavior" as a condition of attending class. The measure would cut federal education money from states that do not comply with the bill within one year.
"This is a very difficult bill to oppose because no one wants children told they have to be on medication as a condition of getting an education," said Lizbet Boroughs, associate director of APA's Department of Government Relations. "That is a decision that the parents make with their [child's] physician."
APA opposed the measure based on a provision in the bill that was "prejudicial" and "inflammatory" against psychiatry in particular and against mental illness treatment in general, Boroughs said.
Supporters of the bill said that the legislation would help prevent schools from coercing parents into seeking prescriptions for children with psychiatric problems by threatening to bar them from the classroom unless they take the drugs.
"Parents should never be faced with the requirement of medicating their child against their will and better judgment to ensure their child will receive educational services," said Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), the bill sponsor, in a written statement.
Opponents of the bill were also concerned about a provision requiring the U.S. Comptroller General to report on several issues, including the "prescription rates of medications used in public schools to treat children diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and other disorders or illnesses."
APA asked Kline to drop that provision until the results of a similar General Accountability Office study requested under legislation approved last year were reported. Those requests were rejected.
The bill passed easily based in part on the strong support it received from the House leadership, which favored the bills' emphasis on reinforcing parental rights against the encroaching authority of the government, Boroughs said.
Rep. Susan A. Davis (D-Calif.) said she opposed the bill because it was advanced on the basis of anecdotal evidence alone. None of the witnesses who spoke in favor of the bill at a May 6, 2003, hearing of the Education Reform Subcommittee of the Education and the Workforce Committee could produce data showing that school systems are now forcing students to be medicated in large numbers as a requirement for attending class, Davis said.
"I still believe passing this legislation is an irresponsible rush to legislative judgment without all the facts," Davis said in a recent statement on the House floor. "We should not pass legislation over anecdotes and isolated incidents, and I have yet to see evidence that this legislation is necessary."
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) testified at the 2003 hearing that it was concerned that barring schools from requiring such medications might discourage educators from discussing students' potential psychiatric problems with parents.
Lance Clawson, M.D., who represented AACAP at the 2003 hearing, said conservative estimates have found 15 million American youngsters need mental health treatment and services at any time, but only about 20 percent of those ever receive treatment. The key to treating children with such conditions successfully, he said, is for parents and teachers to identify problems as early as possible and make sure the children get accurate and effective treatment.
The House passed the measure 407-12, while an identical bill passed the House last year 425-1. APA has worked hard to make sure no companion measure is introduced in the Senate, Boroughs said. So far those efforts have paid off, but with solid support among the House Republican leadership it remains possible that the legislation will advance as an amendment to a larger bill.
The text of the Child Medication Safety Act of 2005 is posted at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/thomas; search on the bill number, HR1790.EH.
See also:CATIE & You
What happens when drugs are found to be unsafe and ineffective? Not much.
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Thursday November 24 2005
updated on Tuesday December 7 2010URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2005/11/24/hr_1790_house_passes_bill_protecting_children_from_forced_psychiatric_medication.htm
Related ArticlesBush To Impose Psychiatric Drug Regime
Plans to screen whole US population for mental illness According to a recent article in the British Medical Journal, US president George Bush is to announce a major "mental health" initiative in this coming month of July. The proposal will extend screening and psychiatric medication to kids and grown-ups all over the US, following a pilot scheme of recommended medication practice developed in Texas and already exported to several other... [read more]
June 23, 2004 - Sepp HasslbergerPsychiatric Drugs: TeenScreen Draws Criticism, Legal Challenge
TeenScreen, a program to screen America's school children for "mental illness" to be treated with often addictive drugs prescribed by a pharma-driven treatment algorithm, is making waves. The parents of a girl who was given a questionaire and subsequently diagnosed with obsessive compulsive and social anxiety disorder are up in arms about the testing and say they will take all legal remedies available to them. Evelyn Pringle discusses the case... [read more]
June 17, 2005 - Sepp HasslbergerThe Drug Pushers In Lab Coats
"We no longer have only street pushers to worry about as the image of pushers has changed to white lab coats and nice offices", says Rain. Prescription drug addiction to anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication can be far more addicting and debilitating that addiction to heroin or cocaine. The withdrawals are recognized by many to be far more difficult, more prolonged, and can last months or years. Yet these drugs are... [read more]
November 12, 2005 - Chris GuptaAntidepressants - Drugging kids in school
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD, is a custom-made "disease" to start selling drugs quite legally to school kids. Have the doctor prescribe them. Your kid will be that much better off - or not? It appears that the real dough about the adverse effects of antidepressant drugs has been kept secret so as not to ruin sales. Violence and suicide are common side effects of those drugs, and... [read more]
February 11, 2004 - Sepp HasslbergerPaxil, Zoloft, Xantax - Drug Induced Violence
23 August 2004 - The New York Times reports on the Murder case of Christopher Pittman coming up for trial. The 12-year-old has shot his grandparents and put their house on fire, but he says it was the effect of the drug he was on at the time - the antidepressant Zoloft. The case comes amid widespread allegations that antidepressant drugs cause many to commit suicide, a charge hotly denied... [read more]
August 26, 2004 - Sepp HasslbergerAdderall Deaths - Canada Suspends ADHD Drug, FDA Disagrees
Linked to 20 deaths, Shire Pharmaceuticals' Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder drug Adderall was suspended by Health Canada, resulting in a ten per cent drop in the UK company's shares, according to a Bloomberg report. The US FDA instead, citing their evaluation of Adderall before approval of the drug, says it has no plans to change the status of the drug in the United States. This uncovers a fault in... [read more]
February 14, 2005 - Sepp Hasslberger
