last chance: Bill Protects US Kids From Psychiatric Drugs!

Wed Dec 6 12:58:24 CST 2006

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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