Posted on 11/18/2004 1:06:31 PM PST by steve8714
I read that this "New Freedom Initiative" is moving toward a vote in the Senate; also that part of this program will subject children(read, boys)to psychological evaluation(read, "You need drugs"). As the father of a young man put on the juice when 10 years old who still cannot get a good night's sleep, I am concerned. Am I right to be? Is this the start of an official program to drug all aggression out of our male children? Is it no longer legal to be either a boy or an oddball?
Ritalin is just a cheap way out for lazy parents who don't want to be bothered with the real work of parenting.
It doesn't get more Orwellian than this. It doesn't get more Brave New World than this. They can kick your door in for suspected pot plants on one hand and demand you get tested for sythetic drugs with the other. I OPPOSE this and hope others do the same.
It's also a cheap way for college kids to get "lit up". Booooo big pharm.
Aboslutely. My son has commented more than once that he is glad they didn't have Ritalin when he was in school. He was bored silly in school, until we got him into more advanced programs. He'd be diagnosed HDD today for sure though.
My sister does Ritalin with one of her boys. When he's at my house and off his meds, all I see is a normal, very active, very bright boy. Not something that requires drugs!
ACTION ALERT
November 15, 2004
Congressman Ron Paul's letter expressing opposition to mandatory mental-health screening of children was sent to Chairman Ralph Regula last Friday. Twenty-two other House members signed Dr. Paul's letter. Those additional signatures were added in large part due to your efforts. Thank you!
We must now focus our efforts on House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Mr. DeLay can be extremely helpful to our cause.
The House will likely pass an omnibus spending bill by this Saturday. It must include language prohibiting money from being spent on mandatory mental-health screening of kids; otherwise, the screening programs already operating in Texas and Illinois will be implemented nationwide.
Should the government subject your children to mandatory mental-health screening without your consent? We say "NO!"
The pharmaceutical industry says "yes" because it wants millions of new customers for drugs such as Ritalin. The psychiatry/psychology/counseling establishment says "yes" because they want millions of new patients. These groups are represented by the most powerful and highest paid lobbyists in Washington and they are working this week to satisfy their clients -- at the expense of your rights as parents and the well-being of your children.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons warned the public five days ago that universal psychiatric screening and drugging of children is "a dangerous scheme that will heap even more coercive pressure on parents to medicate children with potentially dangerous side effects."
Congressman Ron Paul, a physician for over 30 years, abhors the "notion of federal bureaucrats ordering potentially millions of youngsters to take psychotropic drugs like Ritalin."
We must stop this new federal program before it gets millions of dollars to spend. As Dr. Paul cautions, "Anyone who understands bureaucracies knows they assume more and more power incrementally. A few scattered state programs over time will be replaced by a federal program implemented in a few select cities. Once the limited federal program is accepted, it will be expanded nationwide."
We have until this Saturday at the latest. Urge House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to help. Ask him to make sure the omnibus spending bill or final committee report on Labor/HHS appropriations includes the following language: "None of the funds made available for State incentive grants for transformation should be used for any programs of mandatory or universal mental-health screening that performs mental-health screening on anyone under 18 years of age without the express, written permission of the parents or legal guardians of each individual involved."
Mr. DeLay has a copy of the letter Dr. Paul and 22 of his colleagues sent to Chairman Regula, so he knows about it.
Mr. DeLay's office telephone number is 202-225-4000. His fax number is 202-225-5117. An E-mail form is at
http://www.majorityleader.gov/CONTACT.ASP?a=form
Also, please spread the word. Thank you!
Background
http://www.thelibertycommittee.org/screeningkidsbackground.htm
Kent Snyder
The Liberty Committee
http://www.thelibertycommittee.org
well stated. it is also a cop out for teachers and administrators who do not want to discipline children who can get out of line from time to time. i worry about the latter more than the former.
I think it's about time we realized that public education really is beyond redemption -- and that opposing this kind of crap is a waste of time. This is part of a concerted effort to create a permanent class of what Jose Ortega y Gassett called "mass men," who were really nothing more than trained animals whose only purpose was to produce and consume. This has been a recurring theme in our nation's history since the industrial revolution . . . in fact, it has been the primary driving force behind almost every "alternative schools" movement in our history dating back to the nation's first large-scale Catholic school systems in the latter half of the 19th century.
"A gram is better than a damn."
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