Committee On House Reform - ADHD Drugs
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jdrew63 ...@aol.com (Jan)
http://www.ritalindeath.com/lisamariepresleytestimony.htm TESTIMONY BY LISA MARIE PRESLEY INTERNATIONAL SPOKESPERSON FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS, FOR CITIZENS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL Committee on House Government Reform September 26, 2002 Thank you Congressman Burton and Committee Members for the opportunity to address this Hearing.
I am speaking to you today as a mother of thirteen years, one who is intimately familiar with the unique and very special bond between a mother and her children.
However, I am also a mother who has repeatedly seen that bond seriously threatened as more and more parents have been convinced that their child's creative endeavors, their enthusiastic energy, their misbehavior, or perhaps even their disillusionment with school, is a "mental disorder" which cries out for a "chemical fix." As a strong supporter of literacy for children, I am aware of the power of workable literacy training, even for children who have been convinced that they suffer from some supposed brain-based learning disorder or chemical imbalance which requires heavy drugging. Far too often, when sufficient time was spent teaching them true educational basics, including how to read, their so-called "learning disorder" disappeared. I have spoken to children who have been forced to take a cocaine-like stimulant to control their behavior; I have shared their sense of sheer desperation. To see a child suffer a drug-induced psychotic break is not something one easily forgets.
I know of children who could have easily been labeled with "Attention Deficit Disorder" or ADHD sufferers, who were found to be suffering from nothing else than the toxic effects of chemicals in their environment.
I find it alarming that in my 13 years of motherhood, the use of Ritalin for ADHD has increased 700 percent. Today, it is estimated that between six and eight million American children take psychiatric drugs for ADHD and other so-called learning and behavioral disorders. I am not aware of any scientific evidence that validates these as diseases in the same way that medical diseases can be.
Today, more than 20 million prescriptions for stimulants are written each year.
Prescriptions for one stimulant, Adderal, increased 1,017 percent since 1997.
The list of possible side effects of Ritalin alone includes nervousness, loss of appetite, weight loss, manic behavior and a potential for future drug dependence. Even the manufacturer of the drug warns that "frank psychotic episodes can occur" with abuse. Suicide is the major complication of withdrawal from Ritalin and similar drugs.
Some 1.5 million children and teenagers are now prescribed antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil. The possible side effects of these drugs include anxiety, agitation, insomnia, bizarre dreams, suicidal thoughts, hostility and violent behavior.
Between 1988 and 1992, there were Food and Drug Administration drug adverse reaction reports of 90 children and adolescents who had suffered suicidal or violent self-destructive behavior while on one antidepressant.
In February 2000, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical ***ociation revealed the number of American children between two and four years of age who had been given psychiatric drugs, including antidepressants, had soared 50% between 1991 and 1995.
Yet, now a peppermint flavored antidepressant is on the market as an added incentive for children.
And with ADHD increasingly under fire in the media and the community, parents are told that their child may not have ADHD after all, but so-called "bipolar disorder." The symptoms of this new affliction include "poor handwriting," "difficulty organizing tasks," "complains of being bored," "is very creative," "is willful," has "difficulty getting up in the morning," has trouble "concentrating in school," "argues with adults," and is "easily distracted." These "symptoms" are no less subjective than those listed for ADHD. It seems that every childhood activity or protest in life is being redefined as a mental disease.
But there is much more to this alarming situation than just an expanding list of child mental illnesses and skyrocketing drug consumption.
Teenagers on powerful psychiatric drugs committed more than half of the recent teenage shooting sprees, resulting in 19 deaths and 51 wounded.
Government funds now permit parents, such as those testifying here today, to be coerced and threatened if they reject a questionable psychiatric diagnosis and refuse to put their child on mind-altering drugs.
Children have been wrenched from their family's care simply because their parents favored an alternative, drug-free approach to addressing educational and behavioral problems. The psychotropic drugging of millions of children has to stop.
It is a tragedy that some parents have been forced to resort to legal action to protect their children's and their own parental rights to be free of such coercion!
Meanwhile in our cl***rooms, our teachers have been co-opted into administering mental diagnostic tests to determine whether students are "hyperactive" or "bipolar." In fact, laws have had to be p***ed, for example in Connecticut, and one introduced in New York, to prevent teachers coercing parents into drugging their children.
These are just a few aspects of what I believe will one day be widely recognized as the totally needless and tragic drugging of innocent children.
I am not saying that children don't have problems, that they don't need special attention, or that parents cannot reach their wits end when all recommended solutions to their child's behavior have failed.
What I do want to emphasize here today though, is that only by looking for alternatives to drugs will parents discover for themselves the numerous simple, workable and drug-free answers to the problems of attention, behavior and learning.
The common denominator is correct diagnosis. A child could have allergies, lead toxicity, eyesight or hearing problems, be simply in need of tutoring, or something even more basic than that??”phonics. The list of possible causes is very long and well-documented, but such child life-saving information has in effect been increasingly denied to, or hidden from the view of parents and others. This is a violation of their right to "informed consent." Instead of supporting what is legal drug pushing, our governments, schools and doctors must ensure that all??”not carefully selected??”information is made available to parents in order for them to make an informed choice about their child's educational and medical needs.
In 1995 and 1997, the United Nations' International Narcotics Control Board said that governments needed to "...exercise vigilance" in order to prevent the over diagnosing of Attention Deficit Disorder and its "medically unjustified treatment." I want to take this opportunity of thanking the Committee for its vigilance.
However, since 1997, the number of children put on psychotropic drugs has almost doubled. America now accounts for 90% of the world's Ritalin consumption. Clearly, much more than vigilance is needed.
My hope is that this Committee will successfully and continually work to ensure that any legislation governing the mental health or education of our children, provides parents with full information about the available diagnostic and treatment alternatives to child drugging in the true spirit of "informed consent." We must love, educate and take proper care of the physical health of our children, and refuse to allow them to be falsely labeled as mentally ill and then be continuously drugged when there may very likely be a simple cause and solution for their problem. We will not achieve this without the broadly-informed support of our governments, our citizens and our parents.
Peter Bowditch myfirstn...@ratbags.com
A Scientologist appearing on behalf of a Scientology front group. Now that's something you don't see every day.
--
Peter Bowditch The Millenium Project http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles The Green Light http://www.ratbags.com/greenlight To email me use my first name only at ratbags.com
jdrew63 ...@aol.com (Jan)
Umm, you are seeing ADHD hearings.
Listen up, rather than the same ole same ole of the Scientology excuses.
You are an intolerant fascist bigot.
Her religion has nothing to do with her testimony and concerns.
There are many others speaking also.
They aren't brain washed by organized medicine as the debunkers here, who go looking for any ole excuse.
Committee on House Government Reform September 26, 2002 Thank you Congressman Burton and Committee Members for the opportunity to address this Hearing.
I am speaking to you today as a mother of thirteen years, one who is intimately familiar with the unique and very special bond between a mother and her children.
However, I am also a mother who has repeatedly seen that bond seriously threatened as more and more parents have been convinced that their child's creative endeavors, their enthusiastic energy, their misbehavior, or perhaps even their disillusionment with school, is a "mental disorder" which cries out for a "chemical fix." As a strong supporter of literacy for children, I am aware of the power of workable literacy training, even for children who have been convinced that they suffer from some supposed brain-based learning disorder or chemical imbalance which requires heavy drugging. Far too often, when sufficient time was spent teaching them true educational basics, including how to read, their so-called "learning disorder" disappeared. I have spoken to children who have been forced to take a cocaine-like stimulant to control their behavior; I have shared their sense of sheer desperation. To see a child suffer a drug-induced psychotic break is not something one easily forgets.
I know of children who could have easily been labeled with "Attention Deficit Disorder" or ADHD sufferers, who were found to be suffering from nothing else than the toxic effects of chemicals in their environment.
I find it alarming that in my 13 years of motherhood, the use of Ritalin for ADHD has increased 700 percent. Today, it is estimated that between six and eight million American children take psychiatric drugs for ADHD and other so-called learning and behavioral disorders. I am not aware of any scientific evidence that validates these as diseases in the same way that medical diseases can be.
Today, more than 20 million prescriptions for stimulants are written each year.
Prescriptions for one stimulant, Adderal, increased 1,017 percent since 1997.
The list of possible side effects of Ritalin alone includes nervousness, loss of appetite, weight loss, manic behavior and a potential for future drug dependence. Even the manufacturer of the drug warns that "frank psychotic episodes can occur" with abuse. Suicide is the major complication of withdrawal from Ritalin and similar drugs.
Some 1.5 million children and teenagers are now prescribed antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil. The possible side effects of these drugs include anxiety, agitation, insomnia, bizarre dreams, suicidal thoughts, hostility and violent behavior.
Between 1988 and 1992, there were Food and Drug Administration drug adverse reaction reports of 90 children and adolescents who had suffered suicidal or violent self-destructive behavior while on one antidepressant.
In February 2000, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical ***ociation revealed the number of American children between two and four years of age who had been given psychiatric drugs, including antidepressants, had soared 50% between 1991 and 1995.
Yet, now a peppermint flavored antidepressant is on the market as an added incentive for children.
And with ADHD increasingly under fire in the media and the community, parents are told that their child may not have ADHD after all, but so-called "bipolar disorder." The symptoms of this new affliction include "poor handwriting," "difficulty organizing tasks," "complains of being bored," "is very creative," "is willful," has "difficulty getting up in the morning," has trouble "concentrating in school," "argues with adults," and is "easily distracted." These "symptoms" are no less subjective than those listed for ADHD. It seems that every childhood activity or protest in life is being redefined as a mental disease.
But there is much more to this alarming situation than just an expanding list of child mental illnesses and skyrocketing drug consumption.
Teenagers on powerful psychiatric drugs committed more than half of the recent teenage shooting sprees, resulting in 19 deaths and 51 wounded.
Government funds now permit parents, such as those testifying here today, to be coerced and threatened if they reject a questionable psychiatric diagnosis and refuse to put their child on mind-altering drugs.
Children have been wrenched from their family's care simply because their parents favored an alternative, drug-free approach to addressing educational and behavioral problems. The psychotropic drugging of millions of children has to stop.
It is a tragedy that some parents have been forced to resort to legal action to protect their children's and their own parental rights to be free of such coercion!
Meanwhile in our cl***rooms, our teachers have been co-opted into administering mental diagnostic tests to determine whether students are "hyperactive" or "bipolar." In fact, laws have had to be p***ed, for example in Connecticut, and one introduced in New York, to prevent teachers coercing parents into drugging their children.
These are just a few aspects of what I believe will one day be widely recognized as the totally needless and tragic drugging of innocent children.
I am not saying that children don't have problems, that they don't need special attention, or that parents cannot reach their wits end when all recommended solutions to their child's behavior have failed.
What I do want to emphasize here today though, is that only by looking for alternatives to drugs will parents discover for themselves the numerous simple, workable and drug-free answers to the problems of attention, behavior and learning.
The common denominator is correct diagnosis. A child could have allergies, lead toxicity, eyesight or hearing problems, be simply in need of tutoring, or something even more basic than that??”phonics. The list of possible causes is very long and well-documented, but such child life-saving information has in effect been increasingly denied to, or hidden from the view of parents and others. This is a violation of their right to "informed consent." Instead of supporting what is legal drug pushing, our governments, schools and doctors must ensure that all??”not carefully selected??”information is made available to parents in order for them to make an informed choice about their child's educational and medical needs.
In 1995 and 1997, the United Nations' International Narcotics Control Board said that governments needed to "...exercise vigilance" in order to prevent the over diagnosing of Attention Deficit Disorder and its "medically unjustified treatment." I want to take this opportunity of thanking the Committee for its vigilance.
However, since 1997, the number of children put on psychotropic drugs has almost doubled. America now accounts for 90% of the world's Ritalin consumption. Clearly, much more than vigilance is needed.
My hope is that this Committee will successfully and continually work to ensure that any legislation governing the mental health or education of our children, provides parents with full information about the available diagnostic and treatment alternatives to child drugging in the true spirit of "informed consent." We must love, educate and take proper care of the physical health of our children, and refuse to allow them to be falsely labeled as mentally ill and then be continuously drugged when there may very likely be a simple cause and solution for their problem. We will not achieve this without the broadly-informed support of our governments, our citizens and our parents.
Jan
Peter Bowditch myfirstn...@ratbags.com
A well-known member of a "religious" group who has no medical or science background appears at a Congressional hearing as a representative of an organisation owned and operated by the "religion", yet you say that her "religion has nothing to do" with it.
It amazes me how you will accept the word of a person speaking on behalf of a group whose founder claimed that Jesus was a pervert and who claimed that he, L Ron Hubbard, and not Jesus would return to save the earth. You rant about atheists, but at least the atheists around here don't accuse Jesus of being a paedophile. For you, anyone who agrees with you can have all sins forgiven, even the sins of blasphemy and the arrogation of god-like powers.
Bizarre. Sad.
--
Peter Bowditch The Millenium Project http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles The Green Light http://www.ratbags.com/greenlight and The New Improved Quintessence of the Loon with added Vitamins and C-Q10 http://www.ratbags.com/loon To email me use my first name only at ratbags.com
Happy Oyster happy.oys...@ariplex.com
1. Scientology is NOT a religon. Scientology is a commercial structure with sect methods. 2. The criminal Jan Drew calls a critic "You are an intolerant fascist bigot." Nice entry for my FAQ about Jan Drew. ;O) Regards, Aribert Deckers
--
POLICE - POLIZEI - POLITIE - POLICIA http://www.ariplex.com/ama/amapolis.htm
"Nana Weedkiller" nanaweedkil...@yahoo.com
And Jan contradicts herself by stating in the past that: "One's belief in God and Jesus has to do with thier opinions on *any* topic." Where in the Clam church is Lisa allowed to believe in God or Jesus?
[...]
jdrew63 ...@aol.com (Jan)
She appeared as a mother, with general concern.
How soon you forget. Remember when I asked for your qualifications to serve as an advisor of a hunt for quacks committee??
Your answer, (which took some time for you to explain) Subject: Re: Anti-quackery committee Compare that to: *I am speaking to you today as a mother of thirteen years, one who is intimately familiar with the unique and very special bond between a mother and her children.* *However, I am also a mother who has repeatedly seen that bond seriously threatened as more and more parents have been convinced that their child's creative endeavors, their enthusiastic energy, their misbehavior, or perhaps even their disillusionment with school, is a "mental disorder" which cries out for a "chemical fix." * As a strong supporter of literacy for children, I am aware of the power of workable literacy training, even for children who have been convinced that they suffer from some supposed brain-based learning disorder or chemical imbalance which requires heavy drugging. Far too often, when sufficient time was spent teaching them true educational basics, including how to read, their so-called "learning disorder" disappeared. I have spoken to children who have been forced to take a cocaine-like stimulant to control their behavior; I have shared their sense of sheer desperation. To see a child suffer a drug-induced psychotic break is not something one easily forgets.
I know of children who could have easily been labeled with "Attention Deficit Disorder" or ADHD sufferers, who were found to be suffering from nothing else than the toxic effects of chemicals in their environment.
I find it alarming that in my 13 years of motherhood, the use of Ritalin for ADHD has increased 700 percent. Today, it is estimated that between six and eight million American children take psychiatric drugs for ADHD and other so-called learning and behavioral disorders. I am not aware of any scientific evidence that validates these as diseases in the same way that medical diseases can be.
Today, more than 20 million prescriptions for stimulants are written each year.
Prescriptions for one stimulant, Adderal, increased 1,017 percent since 1997.
The list of possible side effects of Ritalin alone includes nervousness, loss of appetite, weight loss, manic behavior and a potential for future drug dependence. Even the manufacturer of the drug warns that "frank psychotic episodes can occur" with abuse. Suicide is the major complication of withdrawal from Ritalin and similar drugs.
Some 1.5 million children and teenagers are now prescribed antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil. The possible side effects of these drugs include anxiety, agitation, insomnia, bizarre dreams, suicidal thoughts, hostility and violent behavior.
Between 1988 and 1992, there were Food and Drug Administration drug adverse reaction reports of 90 children and adolescents who had suffered suicidal or violent self-destructive behavior while on one antidepressant.
In February 2000, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical ***ociation revealed the number of American children between two and four years of age who had been given psychiatric drugs, including antidepressants, had soared 50% between 1991 and 1995.
Yet, now a peppermint flavored antidepressant is on the market as an added incentive for children.
And with ADHD increasingly under fire in the media and the community, parents are told that their child may not have ADHD after all, but so-called "bipolar disorder." The symptoms of this new affliction include "poor handwriting," "difficulty organizing tasks," "complains of being bored," "is very creative," "is willful," has "difficulty getting up in the morning," has trouble "concentrating in school," "argues with adults," and is "easily distracted." These "symptoms" are no less subjective than those listed for ADHD. It seems that every childhood activity or protest in life is being redefined as a mental disease.
But there is much more to this alarming situation than just an expanding list of child mental illnesses and skyrocketing drug consumption.
Teenagers on powerful psychiatric drugs committed more than half of the recent teenage shooting sprees, resulting in 19 deaths and 51 wounded.
Government funds now permit parents, such as those testifying here today, to be coerced and threatened if they reject a questionable psychiatric diagnosis and refuse to put their child on mind-altering drugs.
Children have been wrenched from their family's care simply because their parents favored an alternative, drug-free approach to addressing educational and behavioral problems. The psychotropic drugging of millions of children has to stop.
It is a tragedy that some parents have been forced to resort to legal action to protect their children's and their own parental rights to be free of such coercion!
Meanwhile in our cl***rooms, our teachers have been co-opted into administering mental diagnostic tests to determine whether students are "hyperactive" or "bipolar." In fact, laws have had to be p***ed, for example in Connecticut, and one introduced in New York, to prevent teachers coercing parents into drugging their children.
These are just a few aspects of what I believe will one day be widely recognized as the totally needless and tragic drugging of innocent children.
I am not saying that children don't have problems, that they don't need special attention, or that parents cannot reach their wits end when all recommended solutions to their child's behavior have failed.
What I do want to emphasize here today though, is that only by looking for alternatives to drugs will parents discover for themselves the numerous simple, workable and drug-free answers to the problems of attention, behavior and learning.
The common denominator is correct diagnosis. A child could have allergies, lead toxicity, eyesight or hearing problems, be simply in need of tutoring, or something even more basic than that??”phonics. The list of possible causes is very long and well-documented, but such child life-saving information has in effect been increasingly denied to, or hidden from the view of parents and others. This is a violation of their right to "informed consent." Instead of supporting what is legal drug pushing, our governments, schools and doctors must ensure that all??”not carefully selected??”information is made available to parents in order for them to make an informed choice about their child's educational and medical needs.
In 1995 and 1997, the United Nations' International Narcotics Control Board said that governments needed to "...exercise vigilance" in order to prevent the over diagnosing of Attention Deficit Disorder and its "medically unjustified treatment." I want to take this opportunity of thanking the Committee for its vigilance.
However, since 1997, the number of children put on psychotropic drugs has almost doubled. America now accounts for 90% of the world's Ritalin consumption. Clearly, much more than vigilance is needed.
My hope is that this Committee will successfully and continually work to ensure that any legislation governing the mental health or education of our children, provides parents with full information about the available diagnostic and treatment alternatives to child drugging in the true spirit of "informed consent." We must love, educate and take proper care of the physical health of our children, and refuse to allow them to be falsely labeled as mentally ill and then be continuously drugged when there may very likely be a simple cause and solution for their problem. We will not achieve this without the broadly-informed support of our governments, our citizens and our parents.
It amazes me that you are lying.
She is speaking on behalf of a mother with very legitimate concerns.
It amazes me you can't see these concerns.
<snip Scientology rhetoric, used as a scape goat, when the EVIL is coming from organized medicine> Indeed, the drugging of kids is just that.
Jan
hawk ...@aol.comnospam (Hawki63)
a woman with literally no education...
did you really think she WROTE those words Janny??
she may be a close second to you.,...
at least the speech they handed to yer had every word spelled correct...
hawki
Peter Bowditch myfirstn...@ratbags.com
Yes, Jan. Let's compare it to what I really said. Perhaps one day you will explain the hypocrisy which lets you quote quacks and loons verbatim (and repetitively) but you cannot bear to quote me correctly.
Here is the full quotation: My qualifications are that I am a scientifically-literate, concerned citizen with a particular interest in medical quackery. I am sick of seeing liars and thieves get away with their lying and thieving. I am sick of hearing stories about families being impoverished in order to pay for useless medical treatments for their sick children. I am sick of hearing about desperate people being robbed of their life savings by charlatans who only care about money. I am sick of hearing that murderers are heroes and heroes are murderers. Or, as George Mallory said about climbing Mount Everest: "Because it's there".
--
Peter Bowditch The Millenium Project http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles The Green Light http://www.ratbags.com/greenlight and The New Improved Quintessence of the Loon with added Vitamins and C-Q10 http://www.ratbags.com/loon To email me use my first name only at ratbags.com
jdrew63 ...@aol.com (Jan)
Completely wrong, and another lie. I didn't post it all because most of it is *feelings* NOT qualifications. Like I told you when you posted it.
pay for useless medical treatments for their sick children. I am sick Well, if I were like you, I would accuse you of not posting my reply, making you some kind of hpyocrite.
So I'll just post the entire thread.
At any rate, how do you figure your concerns are of more important than a mothers?? You would also like to forget there were others who spoke at the hearing, so this using Scientology as a scape goat, when organized medicine is at fault, falls flat.
Read away.
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=peterb%40ratbags.com+my+qualificati... l=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=20021128193142.03583.00000414%40mb-ma.aol.com&rnum=2 http://groups.google.com/groups?q=peterb%40ratbags.com+my+qualificati... l=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=recbuu4l09tb354msvjak29ok63vsa3nl7%404ax.com&rnum=1 Jan
"Markosito Probertosito" markprober...@lumbercartel.com
True!. Usually they have some dupe, like Jan, do it for them.
"Markosito Probertosito" markprober...@lumbercartel.com
$cientology is NOT a religion, but a racketeering influenced criminal enterprise.
And, her religion is very germane to her testimony, as the Kriminal Kult of $cientology opposes psychiatry in general and th euse of medications by anyone in particular. You see, they are trashing the competition.
True. They are brain washed by the KK$ and the anti-psychiatry movement.
"Markosito Probertosito" markprober...@lumbercartel.com
More proof that Jan does not read what she posts. Lisa is spewing the exact wording of the KK$.
"D. C. Sessions" d...@lumbercartel.com
Jan, what part of "LISA MARIE PRESLEY, FOR CITIZENS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL" doesn't get through that she was appearing to speak for the "Church of Scientology?"
--
| "Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a | | completely unintentional side effect. " -- Linus Torvalds | +--------------- D. C. Sessions <d...@lumbercartel.com> ----------+
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