Posted on 06/21/2004 10:19:15 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
President Bush plans to unveil next month a sweeping mental health initiative that recommends screening for every citizen and promotes the use of expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs favored by supporters of the administration.
The New Freedom Initiative, according to a progress report, seeks to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing "services in the community, rather than institutions," the British Medical Journal reported.
Critics say the plan protects the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public.
The initiative began with Bush's launch in April 2002 of the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, which conducted a "comprehensive study of the United States mental health service delivery system."
The panel found that "despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go undiagnosed" and recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages," including preschool children.
The commission said, "Each year, young children are expelled from preschools and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviors and emotional disorders."
Schools, the panel concluded, are in a "key position" to screen the 52 million students and 6 million adults who work at the schools.
The commission recommended that the screening be linked with "treatment and supports," including "state-of-the-art treatments" using "specific medications for specific conditions."
The Texas Medication Algorithm Project, or TMAP, was held up by the panel as a "model" medication treatment plan that "illustrates an evidence-based practice that results in better consumer outcomes."
The TMAP -- started in 1995 as an alliance of individuals from the pharmaceutical industry, the University of Texas and the mental health and corrections systems of Texas -- also was praised by the American Psychiatric Association, which called for increased funding to implement the overall plan.
But the Texas project sparked controversy when a Pennsylvania government employee revealed state officials with influence over the plan had received money and perks from drug companies who stand to gain from it.
Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General says in his whistleblower report the "political/pharmaceutical alliance" that developed the Texas project, which promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, was behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which were "poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab."
Jones points out, according to the British Medical Journal, companies that helped start the Texas project are major contributors to Bush's election funds. Also, some members of the New Freedom Commission have served on advisory boards for these same companies, while others have direct ties to TMAP.
Eli Lilly, manufacturer of olanzapine, one of the drugs recommended in the plan, has multiple ties to the Bush administration, BMJ says. The elder President Bush was a member of Lilly's board of directors and President Bush appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, to the Homeland Security Council.
Of Lilly's $1.6 million in political contributions in 2000, 82 percent went to Bush and the Republican Party.
Another critic, Robert Whitaker, journalist and author of "Mad in America," told the British Medical Journal that while increased screening "may seem defensible," it could also be seen as "fishing for customers."
Exorbitant spending on new drugs "robs from other forms of care such as job training and shelter program," he said.
However, a developer of the Texas project, Dr. Graham Emslie, defends screening.
"There are good data showing that if you identify kids at an earlier age who are aggressive, you can intervene ... and change their trajectory."
Now you're my kind of guy!
Then why did you supply a "dane" post as a correction to an assertion that "texasflower" made a statement?
You either speak for her, or you are her, or you have serious issues.
Because in my reply #342, I refuted a point in your reply #343 and I pointed it out to you.
So with that said, I'd submit that (if you don't like those types of questions) you shouldn't blame me for asking the obvious, but rather avoid posting in a questionable fashion.
No, you're wrong again.
The posts that you have made all night long to everyone have been hateful.
No, they have not been. I will acknowledge that your perception may be colored, and lead you to misinterpret what I've said. Hell, I really don't have much of an option other than to accept that conclusion.
Maybe you should get some rest.
Perhaps I should, but that's none of your concern, and I'd advise you to butt out of my affairs. Wouldn't a "well bred southern woman" avoid sticking her nose in other folks' business?
Giving out only the last four digits would solve that problem definitively. No need to furnish the entire number, then.
There is no page 65 on The White House document. That quote was from the report to the President. I did not find it in the White House progress report.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
I guess this means they won't even have to work at brainwashing anymore. Don't tow the company line? - dope 'em up.
It's amazing how most people seem to fall into two categories when you try to explain this to them. 1. They either don't believe you, and think you must have misunderstood, or blown something out of proportion, or, 2. They think it's a good thing, and why would anyone make a stink over it, you must be nuts. Just go with the flow, don't make waves. Other people are waiting on line.
I didn't post trying to get an "A" on a term paper. If you are confused about something that I wrote, then it is certainly reasonable to ask for clarification, if you are in fact interested in the point I was trying to make.
If you were just trying to nit pick, that's an entirely different thing.
It's only temporary. Trust me. They'll come back to this world, nicer than ever. But not for a while! LOL
I was genuinely confused. Thanks for clearing the issue up.
The only way you can refute her perceptions is to either be her, or speak with her, or... have issues.
We're looping, man. Get a grip.
Correction, you are looping.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
Oh dear, we're splitting hairs so soon into the thread?
OK, how about you show me where the White House indicates even a smidgeon of dissatisfaction, or reluctance, or anything at all resistant to the report.
In fact, the White House document refers people to the report. That's how I found it.
Now, I can't speak for Bush -- hell, I only voted for the guy once -- but speaking solely for myself, I'm not in the habit of referring people to something I disagree with when I'm trying to build support for something I want.
I can only hope someday to be as eternally smart as you. Spin it the way you wish.
I have work to do.
It's been that way for quite a while with the kids -- and there's good money in it too. A "special ed" kid (basically anyone they can wave a magic pencil at) gets the school a LOT more money per diem from the state.
Now, they're just moving it up the line. All the way up the line, from the looks of the stuff in that report.
All three posts were about the same thing.
That is (once again) this one single point......
***This is not something President Bush would do. Since this article specifically blames President Bush and it is not in the President's character, nothing about this makes sense.*** (my post 234)
It's about this one single issue.
You know nothing about how I feel regarding any other issue.
Only because I let you iterate me to n=2.
I'm done with that now -- and hopefully with you, too.
And I can only hope to avoid being as snotty as that statement makes you out to be.
Spin it the way you wish.
I'm trying to "spin" it straight. That's the hardest way to make it go, when it's against the flow.
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