http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/18/nrit18.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/18/ixnewstop.html

Quote :

"Alarm as prescriptions of Ritalin to children reach a record high By Roya Nikkhah 9-18-2005 The number of children being prescribed drugs for so-called behavioural disorders has soared to a record high, causing alarm that children are being unnecessarily "drugged into submission". Prescriptions of Methylphenidate - most commonly sold as Ritalin - rose to 359,100 last year, a rise of 344,400 since 1995. Figures from the Prescriptions Pricing Authority reveal that there has been a 180-fold increase in prescriptions since 1991 when only 2,000 were issued in England. Dawn James says her son Sam became withdrawn on Ritalin The growing use of Ritalin - an amphetamine-based stimulant which improves concentration and is nicknamed the "chemical cosh" because of its calming effects - has alarmed critics. It is almost entirely prescribed to children under 16 in this country. Controversially, it has been estimated that one in 20 children suffers behavioural disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD, for which Ritalin is prescribed. But critics of the drug say that doctors give it to children who are merely displaying normal emotional changes experienced during childhood. Campaigners believe that the increasing use of Ritalin follows the trend in America where it has been prescribed to children as young as 15 months."

Oh, and thanks to the "New Freedom Initiative" (passed by Congress in 2004), children will be required by law to be "psychologically tested", resulting in MANY MORE kids being drugged.


http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/11/22/215244.shtml

Quote :

"Congress Funds Psychological Tests for Kids Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.com Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2004 One of the nation's leading medical groups, the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons (AAPS), decried a move by the U.S. Senate to join with the House in funding a federal program AAPS says will lead to mandatory psychological testing of every child in America – without the consent of parents."

New Freedom Initiative/Mandatory Mental Health Screening of American Children Passes
http://www.infowars.com/articles/brave_new_world/new_freedom_paul_amendment.htm

9/18/2005 2:58:59 PM

newsmax and infowars

what great sources for information

9/18/2005 3:02:04 PM

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40365

Quote :

"Forced mental screening hits roadblock in House Rep. Ron Paul seeks to yank program, decries use of drugs on children September 9, 2004 By Ron Strom © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, plans to offer an amendment in the House of Representatives today that would remove from an appropriations bill a new mandatory mental-health screening program for America's children. "The American tradition of parents deciding what is best for their children is, yet again, under attack," writes Kent Snyder of the Paul-founded Liberty Committee. "The pharmaceutical industry has convinced President Bush to support mandatory mental-health screening for every child in America, including preschool children, and the industry is now working to convince Congress as well." As WorldNetDaily reported, the New Freedom Initiative recommends screening not only for children but eventually for every American. The initiative came out of the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, which President Bush established in 2002. Critics of the plan say it is a thinly veiled attempt by drug companies to provide a wider market for high-priced antidepressants and antipsychotic medication, and puts government in areas of Americans' lives where it does not belong."

9/18/2005 3:05:17 PM

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39078

Quote :

"Bush plans to screen whole U.S. population for mental illness Sweeping initiative links diagnoses to treatment with specific drugs June 21, 2004 By Jeanne Lenzer A sweeping mental health initiative will be unveiled by President George W Bush in July. The plan promises to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing "services in the community, rather than institutions," according to a March 2004 progress report entitled New Freedom Initiative (http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/newfreedom/toc-2004.html). While some praise the plan's goals, others say it protects the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public. Bush established the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health in April 2002 to conduct a "comprehensive study of the United States mental health service delivery system." The commission issued its recommendations in July 2003. Bush instructed more than 25 federal agencies to develop an implementation plan based on those recommendations. The president's commission found that "despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go undiagnosed" and recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages," including preschool children."

9/18/2005 3:09:58 PM

Or, straight from the criminals sitting in government themselves, if you prefer...

"President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/04/20020429-2.html

"President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health"
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/

9/18/2005 3:13:27 PM

OMG! The "mainstream media" even reported on this! Infowars and Newsmax weren't just making it all up!!



http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05261/573055.stm

Quote :

"Fierce opposition arises to mental health screening in schools Sunday, September 18, 2005 By Karen MacPherson Pittsburgh Post-Gazette WASHINGTON -- Back in 2003, a federal commission created by President Bush recommended improving and expanding mental health programs in schools to provide help as early as possible to students with learning problems or those who might turn violent or disruptive. The commission highlighted one means of early diagnosis, the Columbia University "TeenScreen" program, that allows students -- with parental permission -- to get a mental health "check-up" via a computer-based questionnaire before graduating from high school. The commission's 86-page report included this suggestion among a long list of recommendations to improve the U.S. mental health system. The report attracted little attention outside mental health circles. But over the past two years, a cottage industry of fiery opposition has grown up around the proposal to expand mental health programs in the schools and has become a popular rallying cry for conservatives who see it as unwarranted government intervention in family life. Opponents of school-based mental health programs point to parents who say their children have been misdiagnosed with problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and forced to take medication under pressure from school officials. To these parents, the commission suggestion to "improve and expand'' school mental health programs is the first, inexorable step toward mandatory school mental health screening for all students, and mandatory medication for many, despite repeated assurances by commission members, school officials and congressional experts that this won't happen."

[Edited on September 18, 2005 at 3:17 PM. Reason : 1]

9/18/2005 3:16:59 PM

glib

9/18/2005 3:20:31 PM

Why not click on [edit post] instead of posting 5 times in under 20 minutes?

9/18/2005 3:20:48 PM

salisburyboy with a thread about mental illness

the irony strangles me

9/18/2005 3:22:11 PM

http://www.conservativeusa.org/mentaltesting.htm

Quote :

"Stop Mandatory Psychiatric "Mental Health" Testing [...] BUSH’S "NEW FREEDOM" IS ANCIENT TYRANNY "The New Freedom Initiative is a plan to screen the entire U.S. population for mental illness and to provide a cradle-to-grave continuum of services for those identified as either mentally ill or at risk of becoming so. Under the plan, schools would become hubs of the screening process – not only for children but for their parents and teachers. There are even components aimed at senior citizens, pregnant women, and new mothers. "In April 2002, President Bush established the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health to conduct a ‘comprehensive study of the United States mental health service delivery system.’ The commission issued its recommendations in July 2003, chief among them being that schools are in a ‘key position’ to screen the 52 million students and 6 million adults who work at educational facilities.""

9/18/2005 3:25:15 PM

it could be worse

9/18/2005 3:26:31 PM

IRONY:

mandatory mental health screening could SAVE YOUR LIFE

[Edited on September 18, 2005 at 3:27 PM. Reason : -]

9/18/2005 3:26:53 PM

a mandatory mental health screening is complely different than, "OMFG HERE IS RITALIN"

9/18/2005 3:32:06 PM

the title should read "Ritalin - drugging boys into submission"

9/18/2005 4:04:22 PM

i agree that this is a problem... but i blame parents, teachers, and doctors instead of the government

you know... people you are actually the cause of it

9/18/2005 4:08:55 PM

Is it pure coincidence that salisburyboy thinks that mental health is a fraud?

[Edited on September 18, 2005 at 5:25 PM. Reason : ]

9/18/2005 5:24:26 PM

hes probably a scientologist

9/18/2005 5:29:34 PM

9/18/2005 5:31:06 PM

i gotta say that here, I Think salisbury has stumbled upon something that happens to be kinda realistic

ritalin is AWFUL

9/18/2005 7:15:31 PM

most of those kids don't even need it, they just need some parents that aren't deadbeats. said, yes there are some cases where medication is seen as necessary and there is some truth to a diagnosis of mental illness.

9/18/2005 7:17:30 PM

^^ agreed, but is that bush's fault?

or... i don't know... just a hunch... parents, teachers, and doctors?

9/18/2005 7:23:48 PM

I :heart: methylphenidate.



productivity in a bottle.

9/18/2005 8:46:55 PM

for realz

i miss sleep though

9/18/2005 8:48:23 PM

^^^ um, no. i don't blame bush; it's not the president's fault that people think medication can solve anything

9/18/2005 10:21:49 PM

http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=1965982005

Quote :

"Mental Health Bill 'to cause thousands to be detained' NINE times as many people as first thought will be forced to undergo compulsory mental health treatment under planned reforms in England and Wales, a new study claims. The draft Mental Health Bill proposes allowing patients to be made to take medication and detained if necessary. The King's Fund study said that in 15 years as many as 13,000 could be placed under such orders, rather than the Government's 1450 figure. But the Government said the "flawed" study produced incorrect estimates. The bill was first introduced in 2002. Under the 1983 Mental Health Act patients can be sectioned, but only if their condition is treatable. The new bill, which received 2000 objections when it was first unveiled, proposes allowing people to be forcibly treated to protect the public."

Coming to America soon.

[Edited on September 21, 2005 at 2:58 PM. Reason : 1]

9/21/2005 2:56:22 PM

http://www.mercola.com/2001/sep/26/ritalin.htm

Quote :

"Ritalin is More Potent Than Cocaine By Jean West The children's drug Ritalin has a more potent effect on the brain than cocaine. Using brain imaging, scientists have found that, in pill form, Ritalin - taken by thousands of British children and four million in the United States - occupies more of the neural transporters responsible for the 'high' experienced by addicts than smoked or injected cocaine. The research may alarm parents whose children have been prescribed Ritalin as a solution to Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. The study was commissioned to understand more about why Ritalin - which has the same pharmacological profile as cocaine - is effective in calming children and helping them concentrate, while cocaine produces an intense 'high' and is powerfully addictive. In oral form, Ritalin did not induce this intense psychological 'hit'. But Dr Nora Volkow, psychiatrist and imaging expert at Brookhaven National Laboratory, in Upton, New York, who led the study, said that injected into the veins as a liquid rather than taken as a pill, it produced a rush that 'addicts like very much'. Interviewed in last week's Journal of the American Medical Association newsletter, she said: 'They say it's like cocaine.' Even in pill form, Ritalin blocked far more of the brain transporters that affect mood change and had a greater potency in the brain than cocaine. Researchers were shocked by this finding. A normal dose administered to children blocked 70 per cent of the dopamine transporters. 'The data clearly show the notion that Ritalin is a weak stimulant is completely incorrect,' said Volkow. Cocaine is known to block around 50 per cent of these transporters, leaving a surfeit of dopamine in the system, which is responsible for the hit addicts crave. But now it is known that Ritalin blocks 20 percent more of these auto-receptors."

10/12/2005 4:12:33 PM

OMG BRAVE NEW WORLD
SOMA!!!!!!1

10/12/2005 4:16:03 PM

and clearly from that article about how strong ritalin is we can conclude that its obviously bush's fault

this is an irrefutable fact

10/12/2005 9:23:34 PM

don't you just love non sequitors designed to distract from the real issue?

10/13/2005 8:14:22 AM

isnt that pretty much exactly why you continue to post semi-related articles? to distract people from the illogical wacko conclusions you make?

pretty much

10/13/2005 8:27:34 AM

http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/view_press_release.php?rID=9094

Quote :

"RITALIN - THE COVER-UP OF SUICIDES /24-7PressRelease/ - SWEDEN, October 29, 2005 - From the depths of the archives at the Swedish Medical Products Agency (MPA) some astonishing papers have emerged. Papers showing that Ritalin, prescribed to children with the diagnosis ADHD, causes depression and has led to suicides and suicide attempts. The MPA knew about these disastrous effects when approving Ritalin for sales in Sweden June 15 this year. No warnings were given to physicians or the public. FDA announced June 28 that Ritalin and other methylphenidate drugs had been linked to "visual hallucinations, suicidal ideation, psychotic behavior, as well as aggression or violent behaviour". Nothing was said about suicides or suicide attempts. The narcotic drug Ritalin has been withdrawn from the Swedish market for 37 years - since the abuse catastrophe in the 60-ties. But Swedish psychiatrists have in recent years demanded the right to prescribe Ritalin and other stimulants to children - with the false pretence that the narcotic drug for children with the diagnosis ADHD would work as insulin for persons with diabetes. The expert child psychiatrist at the MPA has led the campaign; he has assured the public there are no serious short-term or long-term side effects from stimulant treatment of children. "

10/31/2005 8:38:51 AM

Quote :

"visual hallucinations"

ahaha

10/31/2005 8:53:25 AM